


It's A Long Story

by Carol_Molliniere



Series: The Society of Weird Feelings [2]
Category: The Glass Scientists (Webcomic)
Genre: Almost Kiss, Drunk fighting, Hate to Love, M/M, Non-Canon Relationship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prequel, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-19 01:18:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 26,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11886864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carol_Molliniere/pseuds/Carol_Molliniere
Summary: "How could you two fall for each other, of all people?"Well, Archer and Griffin didn't always like each other.





	1. First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> This pairing will be the death of me and my grades, I swear.
> 
> Anyway, I had to make this fanfic to show why exactly Archer and Griffin would like each other - or at least, why I think they would like each other. This is set before That One Betting Pool, but you don't have to read that to enjoy this. I hope.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the story!

There was word around the Society for Arcane Sciences that there was a new person coming to reside at the building. Their founder, Dr. Henry Jekyll, had apparently discovered this latest addition as the man was trying to explain to his landlord what exactly he was doing with odd amounts of scrap metal and plants. At least, that was how the short version of the story went the moment it reached Jack Griffin's ears. The other Lodgers didn't normally embellish their stories with bits of their own workings, but they did mix up details from time to time.

None of it concerned Griffin, though. The only thing that was on his mind was how to find the perfect formula to make his mice invisible. In fact, he hoped that today he would actually hit a breakthrough with the formula he was using. And so he holed himself up in the chemistry lab, expecting to have absolutely no interruptions.

That afternoon, Griffin was in the middle of handling highly sensitive chemicals, concentrating carefully on the beakers and test tubes littering his work space. He was busy pouring some bits of calcium into a mixture of his own design slowly, when a face he didn't recognize popped into the lab.

“And I suppose this is the chemistry laboratory?” he asked, looking rather chipper.

Griffin glanced up at him. Was this the new Lodger? He was indeed looking at the various equipment with the curiosity of a person expecting to stay. Behind him, Dr. Jekyll walked in as well, using one of his charming smiles.

“It is, indeed,” Jekyll said. “Our chemistry lab is equipped with various supplies and chemicals one would find in a normal laboratory, and then some more ingredients one would need for neoalchemy.”

“Neoalchemy?” the newcomer asked. “You mean like magic potions and turning things into gold?”

“I wouldn't call it just turning things into gold; alchemy has a multitude of functions–” Jekyll corrected, but then cut himself off and cleared his throat. “I do believe you would like to introduce yourself to Mr. Archer, Mr. Griffin?”

Throughout the conversation, Griffin had been steadily pouring the calcium into the mixture, but at the mention of his name, he looked up. “Huh?”

Jekyll gestured to the newcomer. “This is Mr. Christopher Archer, a botanical clockwork engineer.” Then he moved the same hand towards him. “Mr. Archer, meet Mr. Jack Griffin, our resident disapparative biochemist.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Archer said, extending his own hand towards Griffin.

However, Griffin put a hand up to stop him, and shook the last of the calcium into the beaker. The mixture fizzed, but only bubbled up a little, and so Griffin considered it an appropriate time to finally shake Archer's hand.

“Disapparative biochemist, eh?” Archer asked. “What is it that you do, exactly?”

Griffin wasn't impressed by the newcomer's attempt to start a conversation, but he decided to humor him. “Well, my work encompasses the fields of biology, chemistry, and physics, and I'm studying how light passes through matter and how I can make living tissues have the same index of refraction as air.”

“...What?”

“I'm trying to figure out how to make living things invisible,” Griffin said dryly.

“Oh. Oh, um...” Archer put his hands together. “That's interesting. Well, it was good to meet you, I'll be – oh, shit!”

He had knocked over a test tube containing a clear solution, and it fell into the mixture in the beaker. Before anyone could do anything, the mixture exploded in their faces.

Once the smoke cleared, the beaker was still intact (a miracle), but whatever had been in it was gone. All three men stared down at it, before Griffin started breathing heavily through gritted teeth.

“Oh, no,” Jekyll said.

“GODDAMMIT!” Griffin shouted, banging a fist on the table. “Bleeding – what's your problem?!”

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that,” Archer said. “Is there any way I can help?”

“Yeah – keep the bloody hell away whenever I'm working!” Griffin yelled. He pointed a finger at Archer. “Even an idiot can understand that. Do you hear me?”

“Look, it was just an accident,” Archer answered. “There's no need for you to be so mad at me.”

“Of course, because it's never your fault when you decide to interfere with my work!”

“Interfere – that wasn't interfering! I was just trying to be nice!”

“Well, look what happens when you try to be nice!”

Having finished his tirade, Griffin sat down at the table, putting his elbows down and placing his head in his hands. Jekyll looked from him to Archer, before he tried to smile again.

“It seems we still have much to see around the Society,” Jekyll said. “Come along now, Mr. Archer. And, ah, good day to you, Mr. Griffin.”

Griffin only waved them off, before Jekyll and Archer left the room. It was only when their backs were turned to him did he bother to observe them.

He didn't like the newcomer at all. To have the gall to bother him while he was working – ugh! He probably shouldn't have let Archer continue when he first tried to talk to him. And to think that a person like him would be staying at the Society now!

All Griffin knew was that if he saw this newcomer again, he would definitely be in a bad mood.

 

* * *

 

Archer stared after him at the chemistry lab door, and then huffed. What the hell was that guy's problem? Sure, he had ruined the man's experiment – but it was an accident. And he was acting as it if was his fault! Archer couldn't believe it. And he would now be living here in this building, where this guy probably lived as well – maybe his stay here wouldn't be as good a time as he thought.

“Don't worry about Mr. Griffin,” Jekyll said from his place in front of Archer. The two of them began to walk forward as he continued, “He's just got a bad temper. Most of the time he'll stay out of your way.”

“That's good to know, I guess,” Archer said. “Hopefully I won't be staying too close to him.”

“You won't, I'm sure,” Jekyll said. “I wouldn't want to have two scientists staying here at each other's throats.”

The corner of Archer's mouth turned upwards. “I'll behave myself, don't worry. That bloke's another story, however.”

Jekyll and Archer walked towards a door as the former said, “Your lines of work aren't too close, so I don't think you'll run into each other too often. You'll be sharing a room with someone else, in fact.”

“Oh?” Archer raised an eyebrow.

Jekyll knocked on that door, and then reached for the doorknob to open it. Once it was open fully, Archer took a look inside, and his jaw dropped.

The room was full of all sorts of flora, from the usual types to types he had never seen before. He walked inside the room, examining the plants that were arranged carefully around the walls and the floors. They were all in good condition – someone must have been taking care of them. And as Archer looked around, he saw that someone sitting at a table, placing dirt in a few pots.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Bird,” Jekyll greeted. “I see you are hard at work as usual.”

“Dr. Jekyll! What a surprise!” the man said, in a tone that wasn't so much surprised as it was jovial. He stood up from his work, wiping his hands on his apron. “How may I help you?”

“I would like you to meet Mr. Christopher Archer,” Jekyll said. “Mr. Archer, meet Mr. George Bird, our crypto-horticulturalist.”

“Uh...?” Archer tried to question.

“I take care of strange and wondrous plants,” Bird explained.

Archer nodded, and Jekyll smiled at the two of them. “You two will be working together from now on – I do believe your fields of work are very similar.”

“Well, what am I going to do? What do you need?” Archer asked, looking at Bird.

“I do need to figure out a way to get all these plants to live together in one controlled environment,” Bird said. “These plants require different kinds of environments, and I would like to have them thriving in this room. And growing new strains that can withstand another environment doesn't happen overnight.”

“Hm...” Archer looked around again, before bending down to look at a small shrub. “I think I can build something that will help.” He glanced back up at them. “What you need is a machine that can regulate the different elements in this room that are needed to help the plants grow. You've already segregated the plants – that's good, it'll make things easier. Give me at least two months, and I think I'll be able to make it.”

“Months?” Jekyll asked. “I can have the materials delivered here quickly so you won't have to forage for them. And not to mention you'll be given your own equipment.”

“If that's the case, then it's lessened to two weeks,” Archer said, standing up straight. “Thanks, Doctor.”

“It's no problem, really,” Jekyll said. “I do believe our tour is almost done; let me show you to your room, and you can get settled.”

“Good,” Archer said. “I want to get started right away!”

Bird smiled as he waved them out the room, and Archer felt light on his feet. Maybe his life here wouldn't be so bad after all.

All he had to do now was forget about that horrible man in the chemistry lab.

 


	2. Drawing Up Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archer is hard at work, but he can't seem to forget that horrible man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the story moves forward with a new chapter! I'm churning these out pretty fast, actually - I just happen to have a lot of free time.
> 
> Also most of the technology I give Archer here is based on what I hear from the comments on the TGS comic comments section, because it was a bad decision for me to attempt to write characters who are much smarter than me. Not to mention that Archer's area of expertise is more complicated to me as I know little about plants and even less about machinery.
> 
> I refer to the machine Archer is building as a "photosynthetic bioregulator" because it regulates the environment inside Bird and Archer's lab for the plants - I am well aware what a "regulator" really is, though. My friend just came up with the above term and it sounded intelligent enough. If anyone has any better suggestions, please let me know in the comments!

True to his word, Archer started work on the new machine that night. He barely gave himself time to settle in his personal room before he got to work conceptualizing what the photosynthetic bioregulator would need and what it would look like. He drew up various plans for it before deciding on a certain number of parts, and a certain look for the bioregulator.

Bird was curious about how it was coming along, so he looked over Archer's shoulder at the plans he was drawing. He was a little confused at the various terms scattered throughout the papers, but he could get the gist of what Archer had in store for their shared lab.

“You're going to make it look like a tree?” Bird asked, and Archer looked up at him.

“Wha? Oh, yes,” Archer said. “Thought having the main body of the machine look like that would make it blend in with the rest of the plants.”

Bird raised his eyebrows. “So that's just the main body – I'm impressed.” He smiled, and Archer smiled back modestly, scratching the back of his head. “Well, I did try to think up some other designs before settling for this one. But it'll do its job all the same, and effectively, I hope.”

“Of course,” Bird said. Archer grinned once more, and went back to work. Bird listened to the scratching of pencil against paper, before he decided to change the topic.

“So you've already gotten into a fight with one of our colleagues here,” he commented.

Archer paused again. “Huh?”

“Word around here is that someone heard you arguing with Mr. Griffin just earlier.”

“Is that odd?” Archer asked, turning back to his papers. “Dr. Jekyll told me the man has a temper.”

“Yes, but it's normally not set off by a newcomer like you,” Bird said. “If anything, he's usually indifferent to people he's not used to.”

Archer sighed. “I was just trying to talk to him – I accidentally made his experiment blow up, or something, but he acts as if I meant to make it occur.” He frowned. “Does that always happen?”

“All I can say is, Mr. Griffin will always look for an excuse to blame someone when something doesn't go his way.” Bird walked towards a few seedlings on the table. “Don't hold it too harshly against him.”

“And what if he holds it against me?”

Bird sat down. “Eh, then that's his problem.”

As Bird began transferring the seedlings to larger pots, there was silence from Archer for a while, before he went back to writing on his plans. They worked quietly for a few moments before Archer looked back up again.

“So, word gets around here fast, does it?” he asked.

Bird chuckled. “You can't keep anything a secret around 'ere,” he said. “There are ears around every door and mouths to repeat what someone said or did. Not to mention some people just like to talk.” He grinned. “Myself included.”

“Don't worry about me, I'm an open book!” Archer pointed at himself. “I mean, your talk about ears and mouths is enough to make anyone paranoid, but not me. I'm not too worried about what anyone has to say about me.”

“Wait until their gossip places you as the target,” Bird advised. “Then you'll be worried.”

Archer nodded, and then went back to his work. Bird examined the seedlings, wondering if his warning was really heeded by Archer.

 

* * *

 

A few days passed. As Jekyll had said, Griffin kept out of Archer's way. Which was fine, because Archer hadn't been thinking about him at all. In fact, busying himself with the machine for his and Bird's lab had made the other man easier to forget.

Not to mention the other Lodgers were already setting their focus on another newcomer that Jekyll had found. Her name was Sophia Flowers, and she worked with real and clockwork insects. Everyone was quite amiable towards her, and she was a soothing person to be around.

Archer had been meaning to get to talk to her for quite a while now;she seemed like the kind of person he would get along well with. But he hadn't gotten to, and he was left to satisfy himself with various glances at her across the all.

This particular day, Archer was working out of the lab – Bird was working with a fern that had poisonous spores, and didn't want them getting on Archer's paperwork or into his system. So Archer let himself out, taking the papers he had along with a box of parts to tinker with, and headed somewhere he could work.

He walked past Jekyll's office, down the stairs, and went towards the common room. He guessed he might enjoy the company of the other Lodgers – he was already making fast friends with the younger ones. It wouldn't be much of a distraction, actually. He liked working with other people around.

When he got to the common room, there was only one person there. Then he locked eyes with that person, and stopped at the doorway.

It was Griffin.

The two men stared at each other for a while, before Griffin slowly moved his hands back to his own papers. Instead of grabbing them and walking off, as Archer expected he would do, he looked back to his work and stayed in his seat, shoulders hunched as if trying to make himself look bigger.

Archer looked back outside. Was there anywhere else he could go? His and Bird's lab was off-limits, and the other labs were probably being used at the moment. He considered going to his own room and working there, but then he looked back at Griffin.

Was the other man expecting him to back off?

Archer inhaled, and then walked inside. He wasn't going to give this man the satisfaction of seeing him go away. No, he would go in and work. The common room was a shared space, after all! Who said he couldn't use it?

He sat himself down on the opposite side of the room, putting the box he was carrying down and setting the plans for the bioregulator before him on the small table. He then went right to work, cobbling simple clockwork parts needed for the machine together.

Archer had gone through at least five parts when he heard footsteps come through the doorway. He looked up, and saw who else but Flowers walk inside, holding a book. She rested herself in an armchair near the fireplace, opening her book and beginning to read.

This was it. He could finally say something to her! He opened his mouth, but then closed it again. What would he say? His eyes darted away, and he put his work down. She didn't seem to notice him squirming, though – that was good.

“...So how's your work with your insects going?” he tried, his voice cracking.

Flowers looked up from her book, a little surprised. Much to his embarrassment, Griffin looked up as well, his attention probably caught by his voice. Archer clapped a hand over his mouth. He had to save this, quick!

He cleared his throat, and continued, “I mean, your work – it seems rather interesting. You know, making clockwork insects and all that...”

He felt sweat begin to form on his skin; had he just screwed up? Flowers didn't seem to think so – actually, she looked positively delighted.

“Oh, my work is doing just fine,” she said. “I didn't assume someone like you would be so vocal about your interest in my work – actually, I didn't think you would be interested at all...” She cut herself off. “Have we met before? I didn't quite catch your name, sir.”

“Christopher Archer,” he said. “And I believe you're Miss Flowers, right?”

“Right,” she said. She smiled warmly, and extended a hand for him to shake, which he accepted.

“What is it that you do around here, Mr. Archer?” Flowers asked.

Archer's eyes darted to his papers and back to Flowers. “I create devices to help plants thrive,” he said. “Right now I'm working on a bioregulator for mine and Mr. Bird's lab – it's going to help control the environment so that all the plants are comfortable.”

“I see,” Flowers said. “How far along are you?”

“I've begun work on the smaller parts of the machine – I expect to finish it in two weeks' time.”

“Sounds splendid!”

“Yes, yes it is,” Archer said. Well, this conversation was turning out better than he thought. Yet his eyes wandered, and he caught himself looking over Flowers' shoulder, at the other person in the room.

Griffin had been watching them, he realized; but he didn't get to observe further, as the moment they caught each other's eyes, the other man looked away.

“What?” Flowers asked, looking over her own shoulder as well, and spotting what Archer was looking at. “Oh!” she said. “I beg your pardon – were we too loud?”

Griffin glanced at her, as if he was trying to keep his eyes off Archer. “Keep it down a little,” he said, looking back to the papers before him. “M'trying to read something. It's a matter of consequence.”

“If it's so important, then why're you reading here?” Archer asked. “I'm sure no one would miss you here if you read in your room.”

Something flashed in Griffin's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by anger. “You should mind your own damn business,” Griffin said, gritting his teeth together. “Wouldn't kill you to stick your nose back where it belongs.”

“I was just asking a question,” Archer argued.

Griffin stood up. “Are you trying to pick a fight with me, Archer?”

“Depends,” Archer said, standing up as well. “Do you want to fight me?”

Griffin was about to take a step forward when Flowers held up a hand to stop him. “That's enough, you two,” she said firmly. “Either you end it here or take it elsewhere, because I will not be witness to a fight.”

Archer turned his eyes to her, looking a little conscientious. Griffin looked at her as well, before huffing.

“If you think I won't be missed here, then so be it!” he exclaimed, gathering up his papers and arranging them, before walking out of the common room. Flowers stared after him, before looking at Archer.

“If he wanted to read with us present, then you shouldn't mind it,” she told him.

“He wasn't reading,” Archer said. “He was watching us. It was rude of him.”

“Who knows, he might be secretly pining for the chance to talk to us.”

“Or maybe he just wants attention.”

“But everyone needs attention,” Flowers pointed out. “Don't hold it against him.”

Don't hold it against him – that was the same thing that Bird had told Archer. Maybe Bird and Flowers were just trying to avoid a fight the same way Jekyll was – they seemed like the kind of people who would want everyone in the Society to get along.

But, as Archer looked back out the doorway, he knew Griffin wasn't that kind of person at all. And he was, for lack of better words, a total arse.

So who could blame Archer if he decided to hold it against him?

 


	3. Getting to Talking (Or Not)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flowers gives a suggestion, and Archer tries it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first and last parts of the chapter are basically me seeing how much mileage I can get out of "Griffin is a jerk".

After that encounter, Griffin didn't just dislike Archer – he downright hated him.

Who the hell was he to say things like that, anyway? It was none of Archer's business what Griffin was doing studying in the common room. It was a shared space, wasn't it? Who said he couldn't use it? He had done absolutely nothing wrong to warrant such words.

...Alright, so maybe he had what everyone called a bad temper. So maybe he had looked in their direction for longer than what was socially acceptable. But to hell with that! No matter what Jekyll said, the Lodgers did things that were not exactly socially acceptable. And that was fine – so why shouldn't anything else he did not be?

Not to mention Archer had the audacity to say something like that after messing up his formula! Griffin just couldn't believe it. What a rude, insensitive little prick he was! He just wanted to give the man a hit to the face.

Archer would still continue to live at the Society, though. From the looks of it, he had nowhere else to go. Plus, Archer had a bunch of friends already at the Society that made living there more bearable for him. So it seemed that Archer would be staying, and not just for the chance to perform what Jekyll called “rogue science”. Now he had to live with seeing Archer's face all the fucking time.

A punch to Archer's stupid face would satisfy Griffin enough, though.

 

* * *

 

Flowers went back to work, and days later she was finishing up the wings on a few mechanical dragonflies. She attached the final wing onto the second dragonfly, before exhaling and moving the magnifying glass away. Now to test if this was going to work – but then her train of thought was interrupted by a knocking on the door.

“Come in,” she said.

The door opened to reveal Archer, giving her a friendly smile. She returned it as she stood up and put down her tweezers. “Mr. Archer, am I correct?” she asked. “My apologies; I am terrible at remembering names.”

“That's me,” Archer said. “I just took a break, so I thought I might come over.”

He walked in, leaving the door open behind him. He walked over to her table, and looked down at the mechanical insects on it. “So these are your insects,” he said, pointing at the mechanical dragonfly. “Does it work?”

“We're about to find out,” Flowers replied, picking up her tweezers again. She reached down to a tiny wind-up key on the dragonfly's back, and wound it up using the tweezers.

The dragonfly began to whirr with life, and the wings on its back began flapping, before it slowly rose up into the air, flying in a certain pattern. Archer and Flowers watched as it flew to the left, then in a straight line, before turning right. As it continued to fly, Flowers looked to Archer – the look on his face was one of amazement.

“It's stunning,” he said, looking at her as well. “I never knew one could make these lifelike insects out of clockwork.”

“It's not exactly lifelike,” Flowers said, holding up a hand to catch the dragonfly as it landed. “I have yet to master the actual flight patterns of flying insects. Not to mention that it's extremely difficult to create something like this with miniscule clockwork as it is.”

“Well, I think your work is fantastic, Miss Flowers,” Archer told her. Then he cleared his throat, blushing a little. “Uh, I mean, speaking as someone who works with machines as well.”

Flowers giggled. “You know how to flatter someone, Mr. Archer. Are you this nice to everyone?”

“Well...” Archer trailed off, considering the question. “I guess I'm nice to people who deserve it.”

Flowers regarded him with a soft look on her face, as she put the mechanical dragonfly down.

“Well, what about that man you argued with a few days earlier?” she asked. “Mr. Chestro, was it?”

Archer's face turned sour. “Mr. Griffin.”

“Oh.”

“Never mind him, he's got a temper,” Archer waved a hand. “My colleague Bird in fact told me he's also willing to blame anyone except himself when things go wrong.”

“Still, what you said to him wasn't exactly the thing you would say if you were to be friendly to him, or at least if you were trying not to provoke his temper,” Flowers said.

Archer crossed his arms, looking away. “I don't want to be friendly to him, and if I provoke him, then it's his problem. He acts as if I meant to mess up his experiment – but it was an accident!”

Flowers tilted her head. “How long ago was that?”

Archer counted in his mind. “Almost a week ago.”

“Then you have to let it go,” Flowers said. “If it was indeed an accident, as you say, then it shouldn't matter.”

“I'll only let it go when he admits he's being an arse,” Archer said, leaning on the table. He huffed. “That might make it a little easier.”

“Why don't you just tell him that you think that?”

“He might not listen, since he's failed to listen to me twice already.”

“Or you might get through to him.”

Archer blinked. “You really believe that?”

“I do,” Flowers said, nodding. She took out a wing-less mechanical dragonfly and sat back down. “Perhaps you ought to talk to him.”

Archer watched her as she began to work, and Flowers wondered what he was thinking about. They were both quiet for a time, before Archer nodded. “Might as well try it,” he said.

Flowers smiled up at him. “If you ever need to talk about anything, you know I'll be here.”

“Thank you,” Archer replied, grinning back. Then he went back out the open door.

Flowers watched him leave, the smile still on her face. She felt her advice would work.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Archer left the room and walked down the hall, though, he didn't know if he really out to have said he would try it. Would he really? Or would he prefer being at odds with the other man?

He didn't have much time to mull over this, though, as he heard an odd sound. Turning to his right, he realized it was a meowing cat – he could see its white tail poking out from the top of the staircase.

Slowly, Archer bent down and called out to it. The cat peeked out from its hiding place, and stared at him for a while.

“Come on,” Archer said. “M'not going to hurt you.”

He called out again, and the cat hesitated, before walking towards him. Once it was close enough, Archer reached out and patted its head, then scratched behind its ears.

“D'you live here?” he asked. “Not all animals are this friendly towards me...”

“Eira!' a voice called, coming from the stairs. “I keep bloody telling you...!”

Archer and the cat looked up at the staircase as Griffin ascended, looking around. Then he looked in their direction, and his eyes fell on the cat first.

“There you are!” he said, taking a few steps towards it, before freezing as he realized who was crouching down next to it.

“...Bugger,” Griffin said. “Why do I keep running into you?”

“Probably because we live in the same building,” Archer said without flinching. He picked up the cat before it could go anywhere else, and tried to keep emotion out of his voice. “This your cat?”

“Yes,” Griffin said stiffly, reaching out for it. He took the cat from Archer's arms, and kept his eyes down on it. “Don't be too impressed; she's a friendly cat.”

The cat looked back at Archer, meowing. Archer cracked a tiny smile at it, before looking back to Griffin.

“Listen, I have to talk to you.”

“About?”

“You know, I don't mean to piss you off,” Archer said. “It's just that you keep assuming I'm out to screw you over or something.”

“And why shouldn't I?” Griffin asked, finally glancing up at Archer. “You ruined my experiment, and then you act as if I'm not allowed to be in the common room when I've been around longer than you, and I know it's a shared space.”

“That first one was an accident,” Archer said. “But I'll admit, I was in the wrong that second time. It's just...I was sort of mad at you. And you were staring at Flowers and I.”

“I wasn't staring,” Griffin denied. “And even if I was, that's none of your business.”

“Fine, fine – none of my business,” Archer sighed, throwing his hands up.

“And let's suppose that you messing up my experiment was an accident,” Griffin continued. “What am I supposed to do then?”

Archer raised his eyebrows. “Forget about it and move on, probably.”

Griffin stared at him, before frowning deeper. “Ah, so that's what this is about,” he said. “You're just like Jekyll – trying to make me a 'better person', whatever that means.”

“What?” Archer asked. “That's not what I'm saying at all.”

“I can read between the lines, I'm not an idiot,” Griffin said. “Well, guess what?”

He leaned in, and said through gritted teeth, “I'm. Not. Like. You.”

Then he pointed his nose up in the air, and walked away, still holding the cat in his arms. Archer stared at the spot where he had been, before scrunching his face up in disgust.

“Ugh!”

 


	4. The Question of a Night Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Archer plans to go out and Griffin is not in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My updates may get slower and slower as I begin to ease into my normal school schedule yet again. Oh well, that's life.
> 
> There was an additional scene here in the chapter, but I felt it couldn't carry its own weight, and so I cut it.

“And then he just blew off what I said!” Archer said, gesturing with the wrench in his hand. “I wasn't exactly telling him to change himself completely; I was just asking him to drop it!” He sighed, and slumped in his chair. “Perhaps he really is just a prick through and through.”

Bird, who had been listening to Archer's rant, now looked the other man in the eye. “Don't say that,” he told Archer. “Who knows, maybe someday he'll realize on his own that he can't stay mad at you forever. I don't think he's that bad of a person.”

Archer gave him a sour look. “Has he ever been angry at you?”

“Fair point,” Bird shrugged.

Archer resumed screwing a bolt onto his now half-finished machine, still frowning. “Bad person or not, I don't know if I'll ever get him to stop being unreasonable. It just doesn't sound possible.”

Bird tried to smile, taking some small weeds out of a large flowerpot. “You know, Archer, I've seen Griffin actually have fun with the other Lodgers.”

“Huh?” Archer asked, pausing. “Having fun?”

“Well, he was joining them in gossiping about Jekyll, but still,” Bird explained. “He puts up the pretense of thinking it's a bother, but if he was given the chance, he'd be unable to keep his mouth shut.”

Archer looked back down at his machine. “...Why're you telling me this?”

“Because it might not sound possible either, but Griffin's a human being,” Bird said.

“Yeah, a human being I want to hit,” Archer scoffed.

“Archer.” Bird pulled out a much larger weed from the pot. He looked it over, and then put it down. “Picking a fight isn't the solution. Just forget about it. In due time, he will too.”

Archer wasn't sure if that was a good solution, so he focused his attention back to his work.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Archer found himself walking down the halls of the Society once more, looking for someone whose lab he could check on during his break. He had seen the other Lodgers' labs during Jekyll's tour of the Society, but he felt like he hadn't seen enough of them yet. And he thought he could spend more time with his colleagues in general.

In fact...maybe he should take them out for a night on the town! He hadn't been out for a whole week now, and being cooped up inside was starting to get to him. Plus, he could stand to go somewhere where he couldn't see Griffin for a while.

That damned man...why wouldn't he leave him alone? At least, the man should get out of his head! Yes – maybe a night out would take his mind off their growing animosity for each other.

From the corner of his eye, he could see another fellow Lodger, Ranjit Helsby, walking down the hall as well. They were going to run into each other, so why not say hello?

“Oh, Mr. Helsby!” Archer said, waving a hand. “Good to see you.”

Helsby grinned, pausing from walking. “Someone must be in a good mood. Or at least, trying to be! What'd you call me for, Mr. Archer?”

“It's not really a big deal,” Archer told him. “I was just planning on going out for the evening.”

“Ooh, a night out, eh?” Helsby asked. “I want in.”

“In that case, you are in.” Archer flashed a bright smile. “See you at six.”

Helsby nodded, and walked off, perhaps to spread the word. Well, with that, Archer considered the invitations given. He just had to go around and cover what Helsby might miss.

 

* * *

 

The word did indeed spread.

Soon, the Lodgers knew that Archer was going to go out, and he was inviting a few others to come along with him. Some preferred to stay at the Society and work, while a few others put down their work and prepared to have a good time.

Eventually the word reached a certain Miss Lavender, who decided to tell it to the one person Archer didn't want to have the word heard by.

“So, are you going out tonight?” Lavender asked the person, who was half-asleep reading a book in the common room.

“Hngh?” Griffin snorted, springing awake. He rubbed at his right eye, before adjusting his glasses and looking at Lavender. “What? What do you want? I'm in the middle of something important.”

Lavender glanced down at the book Griffin was reading. “That doesn't look like something important.”

“What do you want?' Griffin repeated.

“Have you heard?” Lavender asked. “Mr. Archer wants a few people to accompany him on going out.”

Griffin groaned. “That bloke?” He frowned. “Not interested.”

“Come on, you've been working every night on your invisibility formula. Cut loose for once!” Lavender said, patting him on the shoulder.

Griffin shook her hand off with his own. “I can cut loose when I want to. Like with this book, as you've noticed.”

“You need human interaction, let's be honest.”

“As if I actually want to interact with other people; it's already painful talking to you.”

Lavender only grinned, mischievously. “You'll get used to me eventually.”

Griffin rolled his eyes, but Lavender went on, “Who knows, maybe you and Archer could finally get along and everyone could see what a fun person you really are!”

Lavender smiled, and Griffin blinked, seeming to think about it. Then he shook his head. “Forget about it – Archer and I, getting along? That's some shit you don't hear everyday.”

“Well, you better start preparing for it,” Lavender said.

Griffin scratched at his head, annoyed. “Why do you want me to get along with him? I don't have to get along with everyone in this damned building.”

“What?” Lavender laughed. “Do you have some sort of reputation that prevents you from doing so?”

“Please, I'm not Hyde,” Griffin said. “These other people, they just don't understand what I want. Or who I am.”

“And who are you?” Lavender put her hands on her hips. “Are you better than any of us? Are you smarter, or do you have qualities that separate you from us? Tell me, I'm all ears.”

“Goddammit, woman,” Griffin growled. “Do you think you're better than me?”

“I'm just saying you're just like the rest of us,” she replied. “Vulnerable, and in need of a night out.”

Griffin shut the book in his hands, breathing heavily. For a moment, Lavender thought that she had really set him off. She took a step back – but when Griffin turned to her, he had managed to control the anger within him.

“I don't need a night out,” he said. “And even if I did, I would most certainly not be going out with that prick! Understand?”

Lavender stared at him. “If you say so.”

“Tch.” Griffin went back to reading. Lavender turned away and walked out of the common room.

Once she was out, Lavender had a thought – maybe she should have stayed and argued with him that he needed to get over his differences with Archer. She might provoke his temper, though – it wasn't that she was scared of it, but once he lost his temper everything she would say would go straight into one ear and out the other. Not to mention Jekyll would have to end up replacing another table.

She sighed, shaking her head. That man was tough to understand – but she wondered if she and everyone else actually ever would understand him.

Well, maybe not.

 


	5. Nighttime Fight Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small moment of peace doesn't last for long, and punches are thrown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I don't know what I'm doing with this fanfic.
> 
> Actually, I do, but I don't know if what I'm doing with it is good.

For a night out with people he had known for only a week, Archer sure had a whole lot of fun.

They had gone out for a couple rounds of drinks at the nearest pub, and gotten themselves drunk with glasses and glasses of beer. Helsby began to talk of his various failed courtships, and Pennebrygg showed off a tattoo that no one knew he had. At some point in the night, they had run into a certain man whom the other Lodgers called Edward Hyde – Archer learned that this Hyde was Jekyll's personal assistant who loved to go out on the town as well. And so, Hyde showed Archer a way to give their evening a bit of flair: by punching that one guy who was shouting curse words at them, and then turning it into an all-out brawl with everyone in the pub.

Fun!

It was in good spirits, then, that this merry group of Lodgers made their way back to the Society, tipsy and laughing. Archer had honestly wanted the night to last a little longer – but he had to go home and there were people he liked there too. Not to mention he was close to finishing the photosynthetic bioregulator! He felt like celebrating when it was done.

He was quite happy – that was because everything was making him happy.

Except for...

...What again?

 

* * *

 

“So that's an actual leviathan skeleton?”

“Yep!” Lavender brightly told Flowers. “It's one of mine and Mrs. Cantilupe's more concrete findings. We were so lucky to find this one right off the coast!”

Flowers took a look at the skeleton hanging above the atrium once again. “Are its eyes...glowing?”

“We're not entirely sure it's totally dead.” Lavender shrugged. “But neither Cantilupe nor I have been able to prove anything for sure.”

That statement scared Flowers a little, but no more so than Bird's extensive knowledge on various ways his plants could kill someone. Then again, knowing her fellow Lodgers' professions, some of what they were dabbling in would veer towards the frightening. So she decided not to dwell on it.

“It seems your work is very thrilling, Miss Lavender,” was what Flowers said instead.

“It is!” Lavender said. “Sometimes we go out and excavate – well, most of the time we don't find anything of significance, but when we do, we get really excited.” She then smiled at Flowers. “Why don't we take this downstairs? I think the fire's still burning in the common room.”

“Sure,” Flowers nodded, and the two ladies turned from their places at the railing to go towards the stairs and down them, before making their way to the common room. Flowers entered the room first, and found that the fire was still burning – and that there was someone there.

This time, Griffin was fully passed out on a table, head resting on a few of his notes. Flowers and Lavender looked at him, before looking back at each other.

“He's actually much better this way,” she whispered. “Doesn't get angry in this state, and he's getting some rest.”

Flowers glanced back at him, and wondered if she should wake him to get him back to his room – perhaps he ought to sleep on a bed. She was about to open her mouth when the main doors to the Society swung open from outside the common room.

A group of raucous voices echoed in the atrium, and Flowers guessed that it must be the group of Lodgers who had gone out that night. Lavender moved to look out the doorway, and sighed out of her nose. “They're coming here,” she said. “I should probably get Griffin out of here before things get messy with him and Archer. Or anyone else who walks in on him sleeping.

As Lavender said this, she had walked over to Griffin's side, before giving his shoulder a little shake. Griffin woke up, looking at Lavender a bit irritably – but then that annoyance was directed somewhere else as the group of drunk Lodgers walked in, with Archer in tow.

Griffin spotted Archer first, and frowned. “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” he commented loudly, “straight from the dirty streets of the East End.”

Archer finally looked in Griffin's direction, a smile still on his face. “I'll be damned,” he retorted, slurring a little, “I think the cat's dragged in a rather annoying scientist.”

Griffin stood up, his voice low as he spoke. “I agree. It's a scientist who only gets in my way, no matter what I do.”

“I never intended to mess up your shit, and you know it,” Archer said, his smile turning nasty. He pointed a finger at Griffin as he continued, “Either that or you've got something stuck up your ass and you just want to blame everyone else, isn't that right?”

“Shut the bloody hell up,” Griffin said, walking around the table to fully face Archer. “You're just a little brat, aren't you?”

“At least I'm not as much a brat as you,” Archer tried to laugh.

Lavender sighed – her plan had failed. She stepped in between the two men. “Stop this right now,” she commanded. “You two don't really want to fight, do you?”

“Bleeding right we do!” they shouted simultaneously.

Lavender was unimpressed. “You two are acting like children. This is getting tiring, and you both need to move on and forget about it. Alright?”

Archer and Griffin looked at each other, and then looked away, before nodding.

“Good,” Lavender said.

She turned away from them for a moment, and that was when Archer took a chance and punched Griffin in the face.

The blow was so hard that Griffin stumbled, his glasses falling off his face. Lavender and Flowers gaped, and even Archer's companions looked shocked. Archer shook his hand out, meanwhile, trying to relieve it. Griffin put a hand to his face, cradling his bruised cheek. For two seconds, Flowers was sure that was a look of hurt on his face.

Well, it lasted for only two seconds before it turned into a look of rage, and Griffin retaliated by swinging his own fist towards Archer's face. It his Archer dead on the mouth, and Archer, having less coordination, fell to the floor. Before anyone could help him back up, Griffin quickly grabbed Archer by the shirt collar and pulled him up, before he savagely struck him again.

Archer kicked his opponent in the leg, and Griffin's subsequent reaction to the pain gave him an opening to hit him yet again. Soon the two men were punching, kicking, and screaming – all the pent-up anger they had within them was now bursting forth in the form of violence.

Finally, Pennebrygg and Flowers stepped in to restrain Griffin and Archer respectively, holding the two bruised and bleeding men far away from each other.

“Look at yourselves!” Flowers said. “This isn't solving anything!”

“It doesn't matter!” Archer cried, flailing his arms about. “I have to show that prick that–!”

“Ow!”

Archer hadn't realized that his elbow had collided with Flowers's face until he heard her cry out in pain.

Everyone stilled at Flowers put her hands over her bruised eye, whimpering in pain. Lavender immediately came to her aid, checking on the eye to see if it was alright.

From her peripheral vision, Flowers could see everyone looking at her, stunned. Then she looked at Archer – he had turned slightly towards her, and was beginning to apologize. She took her hands off from her eye for a moment to show Lavender her eye, and Archer looked even more guilty.

Lavender looked at Archer and Griffin, quite angry, but not saying anything. Archer took a step back, conscientious, but Griffin only looked away.

Footsteps came into the common room, and Flowers looked up with everyone to see the newcomer.

“Looks like I missed a fight,” Hyde said bemusedly, crossing his arms.

 


	6. Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An apology is made, and Bird might have been right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been busying myself with a lot of other things, both necessary and unnecessary, so I guess updates might slow down.
> 
> Also I don't really know how Jekyll would handle a fight between the Lodgers, but I guessed he might be a little stern with them seeing as this has resulted in people getting hurt. Not to mention he doesn't want stuff like this leaking out (if it were to), probably.
> 
> Please comment if you see anything you like!

For some reason, Jekyll had been in his office at the time of the fight. Hyde just had to go to Jekyll's office – and in about fifteen minutes, Jekyll appeared, looking none too pleased with what he must have heard from his assistant.

Archer supposed that it was fair – he had just hit two of his fellow Lodgers, one of which was on purpose. He felt he was beginning to sober up a little, but he couldn't really tell. He still wanted to punch Griffin.

He looked beside him to the other man. Griffin was trying not to look at Archer, having his default sour expression on. Archer couldn't tell if he felt at all guilty for fighting with him – and that made him a little angry. It was because of this fight that Flowers had gotten hurt; Griffin ought to feel a little bad about it. Unless he really was that much of a jerk.

Jekyll was watching the two of them now, crossing his arms, a frown on his face. Archer twiddled his fingers together.

“Well?” Jekyll asked.

Archer opened his mouth, “I can explain–”

“He started it.” Griffin pointed at him.

“Wha – I started it?” Archer asked. “Sure I threw the first punch, but you opened your mouth!”

“Only because you showed your stupid face,” Griffin replied.

“You can't let it go that I accidentally messed up your experiment!”

“Well, you messed it up, didn't you?”

“Gentlemen,” Jekyll firmly cut in, and the two of them halted. “I don't care who started it. Your disagreement–”

“That's an understatement,” Griffin interrupted.

“–has gone on far enough.” Jekyll continued, ignoring Griffin. He held up a hand to gesture at them. “It has come to the point where you both made a scene in front of your colleagues, resorted to violence, and hurt Miss Flowers in the process. No matter how you put it, this is unacceptable behavior. Do you have anything to say in your defense?”

Archer straightened up, his leg bobbing up and down. He looked at Griffin again – he was holding his head high, but he was looking away from Jekyll. Archer licked his lips and looked back to the doctor.

“I swear, I didn't mean for it to get this far,” Archer said. “I just couldn't take how unreasonable Mr. Griffin was being.”

“I'm not the unreasonable one here,” Griffin said.

“Yes, you are,” Archer said. “Look, say what you will about how I ruined your experiment, but I'm not going to listen to it anymore. Everyone's right, this has gone on far enough.”

Jekyll took a few steps towards Griffin. “Mr. Griffin, it would indeed help if you both agreed to let go of this grudge,” he said. “I can see where you're coming from–”

“No, you don't.” Griffin finally looked at Jekyll. Archer thought a pained look appeared on Jekyll's face, for some reason.

Jekyll sighed. “You both are going to be living here, under one roof; it would be good for all of us if we all got along. We should all connect, just like how our work in science can connect. Who knows, you two might end up working together one day.”

“I highly doubt it.”

“Let him talk, for God's sakes.”

“Fine,” Griffin huffed.

“What I'm trying to tell you is, the Society for Arcane Sciences would be a much better place if we all decided to put our differences aside and be allies instead of enemies to each other. Not to mention you would end up with less bruises than you have tonight.” Jekyll stood up straight. “So the least you could do is apologize to each other and ensure that in the future, this will not happen again. Understand?”

“I understand,” Archer said. Griffin only nodded.

“Good,” Jekyll said, putting his hands behind his back. “Now apologize to each other.”

Archer turned to face Griffin. “I'm sorry about what happened,” he said, extending a hand.

Griffin stared at the hand for a moment, before taking it and holding it a little too tightly. “Sorry,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Now, let's call it a night, shall we?” Jekyll said, his tone turning pleasant again. “I'm sure you have work to do and, um, injuries to tend to. I'll see you gentlemen in the morning, then.”

With that, Jekyll nodded at them, and turned around to exit the common room. Archer and Griffin stood up, and Archer watched Griffin walk over to a table to gather up his notes. Archer felt like he had to talk to Griffin – he was sure the other man still didn't like him – but as he opened his mouth, Griffin beat him to it.

“Don't get yourself so worked up over Flowers,” he said. “It's just a black eye.”

“Yes, but...” Archer faltered. “I hit her.”

“So?” Griffin turned towards him. “You hit me, and I don't see you looking so guilty about it.”

“Well, that's because Flowers didn't deserve to get hit,” Archer said. “You, on the other hand...”

He trailed off, realizing how that sounded. Griffin turned towards him. “You didn't really mean what you said, did you?” he asked.

“That's not it at all!” Archer waved his hands. “I just don't want to hurt anyone anymore, that's all.”

Griffin sniffed. Archer could then see the various cuts and bruises littering the man's face; and who knew how much more were on the rest of his body.

“Yeah, well, try harder,” Griffin told him. With his notes tucked under his arm, he walked out the doorway.

Archer watched him leave, but he didn't feel angry or slighted.

It was strange.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Archer sought out Flowers.

He found her talking with Lavender and Cantilupe, showing off some of her mechanical ladybirds to them. Beside them, another Lodger, Virginia Ito, was looking over Flowers's shoulder at the ladybirds. It was as if they were subconsciously (or consciously) forming a protective barrier around her. But Archer could see why.

He decided to walk towards them, ignoring the self-conscious feeling growing in his stomach. Virginia was the first to notice him coming, and they looked to Flowers, whispering in her ear. Flowers looked up to see him, and then so did Lavender and Cantilupe. Archer gulped.

“Listen, Flowers,” he began, “about your eye – I'm really sorry.”

“It's fine, really,” Flowers said. “I know you didn't mean to hurt me. You were just drunk.”

“Wasn't just drunk,” Archer said. He looked at her eye, and winced. “Are you sure you're alright?”

Flowers nodded. “Miss Ito has been making a balm specifically for my eye. She's very good at alchemy.” She gestured towards Virginia, who frowned at him.

“You're just lucky she's forgiven you,” Virginia said coldly. “Otherwise you wouldn't be welcome within ten feet of her.”

Archer nodded, his eyes darting away for a moment. “That's...good to know.”

“Don't be so protective, Ito, Flowers can take care of herself,” Lavender said. “Besides, I was there – it really was just an accident."

Virginia looked from Lavender back to Archer, and raised their eyebrows. Archer felt he could do little else but nod in agreement.

“I never did think you would get into a fight, though, Mr. Archer,” Cantilupe said. “You're such a good man.”

“Not that good, evidently.” Archer shrugged. “I realized I've been a massive arse.”

“It happens when you resent someone,” Lavender consoled. “But it's good to know you're moving forward.”

“Yes, and don't you mind Griffin, dear,” Cantilupe said. “If he says anything nasty to you, tell us and we'll take care of it for you.”

Archer chuckled a little. “That's very nice of you ladies,” he said. “Thanks.”

“Everything that man says and does is a front, anyway,” Virginia said, and everyone else looked at them. They continued, “Haven't gathered much concrete proof yet, but he's actually having as much a hard time with his own feelings as he does with his work.”

“His feelings?” Flowers tilted her head.

Virginia crossed their arms. “I wouldn't call him soft on the inside, but he must be softer than most would think. Archer, Flowers, you've only seen the rough side of him. But once I overheard him talking to his cat.”

“He talks to his cat?” Lavender asked.

Virginia nodded. “And it wasn't some nasty thing he said, either; he was talking to it about his frustrations over his experiments.”

Lavender put a hand to her chin. “Why doesn't he just tell us that?”

“Maybe he's shy?” Flowers asked.

“If there's anything Griffin definitely isn't, it's shy,” Cantilupe said. “That man doesn't seem to get nervous or hesitate in talking up a storm.”

“Doesn't he have any friends?” Archer asked.

“We try to be friendly, but he just...isn't,” Lavender told him. “He doesn't get correspondence from anyone outside the Society, either. And we're not entirely sure he still maintains good relations with his family – if he's still got any.”

Flowers frowned. “That's sort of sad.”

“That's how he is,” Virginia said. “We ask him about it, but he hates talking about himself to us.”

“You'd think a person like him would talk our ears off about himself,” Lavender commented. Then she shook her head. “But we're getting nowhere with him, so let's talk about something else. How are your formulas coming along, Ito?”

Virginia began to speak of various compounds and chemicals, and Archer didn't know what else to contribute to the conversation – he was no expert in chemistry – so he tuned them out. His mind wandered to what the women had said about Griffin. Maybe Bird had been right all along. He cleared his throat.

“Well, if my company isn't needed here, I'll be going,” Archer said, waving. “I have to work on my bioregulator.”

“Oh, alright,” Flowers said, waving back. “Do take care.”

The other women waved him off, and Archer turned around and went on his way. He really did have to work on his bioregulator – Lord knows Bird's plants needed it – but he also had to talk with Bird himself.

As he walked on, he thought he heard a cat meowing. Archer looked around – but he didn't see anything, and most certainly not a particular white cat.

 


	7. A Breakthrough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archer and Griffin succeed at something - and then fail at something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was barely proofread, so forgive me for any errors or bad writing that you may find here. But I feel it's good enough, though - I finished this in less than 24 hours, though, so you could probably judge me.

“I've done it! It works!”

Bird stared out at the room before him, while Archer looked on with pride. It had only been an hour of the newly-finished bioregulator running in their shared lab, and the machine had not broken down or exploded. No – in just the span of that hour, Bird's plants seemed to be looking healthier and greener. Even the plants that weren't exactly the indoor type seemed to be looking a little more tame. And all because of this machine that was running the environment.

He put his hands on his hips, and smiled. “Well, I must say you've really impressed me, Archer,” Bird said. “Two weeks weren't up and you've already a working bioregulator!” He chuckled. “We're going to make a great team, mate.”

Archer looked at Bird as the older man clapped a hand on his shoulder, and he beamed even brighter. Bird could see that the younger man was unable to speak – he was quite ecstatic.

Someone passing behind them stopped, and then Bird could hear that person walking over to look over their shoulders. He and Archer turned to see Flowers beside them, shyly backing up now that she had been caught.

Bird opened his mouth to greet her, but then Archer took them both by surprise and grabbed Flowers, still giddy. “My bioregulator works, Flowers!” he said, before enveloping her in a hug.

Archer then let go of her after a few seconds, and ran down the hall, shouting something about celebrating. Bird and Flowers watched him do so, with the former laughing to himself.

“Well, it's his first successful project here at the Society,” Bird said bemusedly. “I s'pose he should be allowed to be in such good cheer.”

He didn't notice Flowers staring after Archer, blushing a little.

 

* * *

 

Archer spread the cheer around the Society, whooping with joy and telling everyone that he was going out to celebrate. At some point he even tried to hug Virginia out of joy, but stopped when they moved to hit him if he got any closer.

He had already ran all the way to the various laboratories, looking for someone to share his happiness with. He winded down for a little bit – running around the large building of the Society did not do wonders for his energy levels. He looked around, and that was when his eyes fell upon the door to the biology lab.

The door was ajar.

He stepped closer to the door, peeking to see who was inside, and found who else but Griffin in the lab, peering at something through a microscope.

Archer hid behind the wall by the doorway, then looked back. It seemed the other man was much too preoccupied with his work to notice him there. He blinked, and then caught himself. What was he hiding for? It wasn't like he was sneaking around or anything. Besides, he didn't feel he resented the other man that much anymore.

He remembered what the ladies had talked about a few days ago, for a moment.

Well, Griffin didn't have any friends at the Society, did he? And Archer was looking for people to celebrate with...

Taking a leap of faith, he whirled around and stood in the doorway, clearing his throat. Griffin glanced over at him before returning to his work, looking through the microscope again and then taking a few notes in a small notebook.

Archer pressed his lips together. Was the other man trying to ignore him now? Well, it wasn't going to work. He stepped into the laboratory and up to the table where Griffin was working.

“Mr. Griffin?” he asked.

The other man sighed out of his nose, before rolling his eyes and looking at him. Archer took this as a sign to continue.

“Listen, um,” he began, “I've finished my bioregulator, and I was thinking of going out.”

“Is that all?” Griffin asked, unimpressed.

“No,” Archer said, a little put off. But he shook his head and went on. “Actually, I was, uh, thinking of going out with some of our colleagues, and I thought – why don't you come along with us?”

Griffin had been switching the slides on the microscope while Archer had been talking, but now he froze. He looked up at Archer – surprise was written all over his face. He opened his mouth for four seconds, but nothing came out until he shook his head. Then the sour face was back on.

“Can't,” was his reply. “I have to work. Besides, don't you hate me, or something?”

“I don't hate you,” Archer said. “Well, not anymore, I think. Still pretty sure you're an arse, though.” He tried to laugh – was that a little too much?

Archer's smile then faltered as Griffin narrowed his eyes. “Why're you inviting me out, then?” A pause. “...Did Lavender put you up to this?”

“What? No,” Archer said, then hesitated. What else was he supposed to say? If he told him the real reason why he was inviting him out,, then it would seem like he was just pitying the man. Which he kind of was, but that was besides the point.

“I just thought you might be interested...since you're doing so much work, and you look like you need a break,” he tried.

“Sounds like Lavender to me,” Griffin commented. He looked back to the microscope. “Well, I'm not doing too much work from my point of view. What's it to you, anyway? I'm just doing my job here at the Society. If you want to go out, fine, but I don't want to join you.”

It was getting pretty obvious that Archer's smile was forced, so he took it upon himself to take his leave. “Um...alright, then,” he said. “Maybe some other time...?”

Griffin didn't reply, instead choosing to continue with his work. Archer nodded, and then turned around, walking out the door.

That whole encounter made him wonder even more, though. Why was Griffin rejecting him when clearly he was desperate for company (as evidenced by the surprised look on his face)?

If Griffin just happened to like his work that much, though, that was fine. It just didn't seem like that was the reason to him.

 

* * *

 

It was only when Archer exited the lab that Griffin allowed himself to look back up again.

Archer was obviously pitying him. It was the only explanation for his sudden change of heart towards him. Surely Lavender or any one of the other Lodgers must have let something slip about him. Well, combined with the elated feeling of finishing that big project of his, it was to be expected that Archer thought he would accept his invitation.

Well, of course not! Jack Griffin was stronger than that! He didn't need to be invited out on a whim by some handsome idiot who thought he wouldn't gain any friends any other way! He was better than that!

...Wait.

Griffin paused in taking down notes. That couldn't be right. Nope, he didn't just think of Archer as handsome.

Ugh, there it was again!

Griffin tried to direct his mind back to his work. No, no, no. Nothing was to become of this. It was all just something that flew over his head. Maybe a little more work would help. It always did, didn't it?

He took another sample and held it under the microscope. It was a bit of white rat hair, treated with his current invisibility formula. He blinked, and then peered more closely at it.

Where was the hair?

He zoomed in and adjusted the lens a couple of times, before taking his eye off the eyepiece and removing the slide from the microscope. Had the hair somehow fallen out? No, it was clearly there when he had set it in the slide, and there was a lot of it, too.

Unless...

Griffin then decided to solve the problem by doing what other scientists normally wouldn't – he fiddled with the slide to remove the glass cover from the sample. Then he put his finger on where the sample should have been, and his eyes widened.

It was there – he couldn't see it, but he could feel it on his fingertips. He held up the sample to his eyes, and rubbed. That was definitely hair.

Oh, God.

He had done it.

A laugh, small at first, suddenly erupted from his mouth, before he put the sample back down carefully on the slide. This was it – things were finally beginning to look up for him! No more thinking of frivolous things like going out with that Archer.

That admittedly attractive Archer.

Fuck.

 


	8. You Want In?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Griffin works on the invisibility formula, while also working on ignoring Archer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who wants to see an overworked tsundere in this chapter?
> 
> (that's a sentence I thought I'd never hear myself say)
> 
> Also the Lodgers aren't meant to sound mean, but people say things that sound mean sometimes and not mean them, so I don't know.

Griffin worked feverishly for the next few days, testing and re-testing his formula.

First, he tried it on inanimate objects, soon coming to the conclusion that it was easier to make smaller things invisible than bigger things. Those two days had gone off without any interruptions in his work save for him to eat a few bites and spend nights sleepless in anticipation of what he would test next. By the end of those two days, though, an unexpected visitor came to him.

 

* * *

 

“I heard that you've made a breakthrough with your research,” Archer said, coming into the chemistry lab. “Can I see?” He then paused for a second. “Or rather, not see?”

Griffin was mildly surprised to see him nonchalantly walk inside and scan the objects on the table. Archer looked at the labels placed in front of the objects, before looking up at him.

“Are these...invisible?” he asked dumbly.

“Of course, idiot,” Griffin said.

Archer raised his eyebrows in realization, then reached out a hand to touch the invisible objects. Griffin walked over and slapped his hand.

“Ow!” Archer cried out.

“You can't touch them unless I say so,” Griffin told him.

“Then how am I supposed to know if it's there?”

“Well, I didn't say you could touch it yet, did I?”

Archer frowned, but he inhaled, and composed himself. Griffin eyed him carefully – but he wanted someone to acknowledge his work, so he stood up straight and waved a hand, allowing Archer near it.

Archer put a hand down on the small sample, trying to determine what it was for a couple of seconds. Finally, he looked up at Griffin. “Paper?”

“Yep,” he replied. “I'm testing white things before I move on to colored objects.”

“And then on to white and colored creatures?” Archer went on.

“Wow, you really aren't as dumb as you look.” Griffin turned back to cleaning the various chemistry equipment in the lab. “But I'm not stupid, either. Why're you here?”

“Uh, well, I'm going out again. Sinnett invited me this time,” Archer said, hiding his hands behind his back. “D'you want in?”

“Don't count on it,” Griffin said. And that was the end of it.

 

* * *

 

Well, he had at least hoped that was the end of it.

By the end of some more tests on colored material big and small, he concluded that colored materials were much harder to turn invisible than white materials. But not only that – much to his annoyance, Archer came back again.

 

* * *

 

“I've figured out how to pollinate the fruitbearing plants mechanically, with Flowers' help,” Archer said. “And I'm going out again. Do you want to come?”

Griffin narrowed his eyes. “Go out with Flowers; I don't see what I have to do with it.” Then he shooed him off.

 

* * *

 

Well, who could blame him if he was rejecting Archer all these times? He had to work. Work was all that mattered right now. Not resting, not going out, and most certainly not getting lost in Archer's bright green eyes.

Shit!

The waste bins in the biology and chemistry labs were soon filled with crumpled paper by the time the second week arrived, after countless attempts to make it easier for colored materials to turn invisible. He ate less and slept even less. Griffin knew that the cook Rachel would get on his case sooner or later for not eating the food she had cooked, but it didn't matter to him now.

He was so tired, though. He was so tired of writing up various formulas and testing them, and he was tired of Archer coming back to ask him that damned question.

 

* * *

 

“D'you want to go out? I have free time.”

“Work in your free time...stupid.”

 

* * *

 

Even now he had lost the energy to come up with more colorful things to call Archer.

It had come to the point where Lavender had found him passed out on the kitchen floor a few nights later, waiting for the water for his coffee to boil. She had sighed in relief when she woke him up – she said she had thought he was dead or something.

“You need to go to your room,” she advised, like a nagging mother, as she pulled him to his feet. “Sleep.”

“Don't want to,” he mumbled, even as a yawn caught the other words in his throat.

“You definitely need to,” Lavender told him firmly, dragging him outside the kitchen. “And I don't care how much you whine; it's happening.”

He was too tired to make a violent reaction, though he wished he wasn't – so he at least tried to let her run along when they reached his room; he could get himself to sleep, thank you very much. He let himself in, and once he got to his bed he collapsed almost immediately onto it, the clothes he had worn the whole day still on.

He dreamed he was back in college. Except for some reason, the hallways were longer, it looked as if the place was supposed to be closed up, and it was nighttime. All the people he knew in college were wandering around, but they didn't talk to him and he didn't talk to them.

For some reason, Archer was there.

Archer was the only one talking to him, even if he was babbling something about Jekyll and cats. At some point in the dream, he had leaned in and...

The dream went hazy. Then Griffin woke up.

Back to work.

 

* * *

 

Griffin couldn't remember much of the dream when he began to work again, but he did recall that Archer was in it, and that bothered him. He tried to shove it out of his mind by cluttering his work space with test tubes and beakers, and it worked for a while.

Until he had brought out the sample for that day – a potted white flower – and for some reason he remembered that Archer worked with plants.

Ugh, it just had to be Archer, didn't it? It just had to be the guy who wouldn't leave him alone, in both his mind and in the real world. It just had to be the man who argued with him and punched him in the face, then took it back and changed his tune, who had a crooked smile and perfectly scruffy hair and the one whose whole appearance was breathtaking–

The formula trickled carelessly onto the flower from the test tube he had been holding, before it dripped down to the soil in the flowerpot. He gripped the test tube tighter.

Fine.

Archer would have it his way. The next time he would ask him to go out for drinks, Archer would have what he wanted. He was too tired to fight back now. And besides, it would all stop when he got what he wanted. Then Griffin could focus on his work.

He surveyed the flower for any changes, but nothing seemed to be happening so far. He turned to get his notebook, when he heard people coming nearer to his room. Those were the voices of his fellow Lodgers; he could tell a few accents apart, and he was sure Archer's was among them.

Well, time for his moment of weakness.

The group seemed to stop behind the door, talking about something. Griffin could hear Archer's voice singled out from the others, saying something that sounded like “I'll ask” or something. Griffin stood up from his seat. Was Archer talking about him? He took a couple of steps closer to the door just as someone – most likely Helsby – voiced his dissent.

“What do you see in him, Arch?” Helsby asked.

“What do you mean?” replied Archer.

“No offense, Archer, but how many times have you asked for Griffin to go out with us now?” Tweedy's voice added.

“Um, once or twice?”

“More than that, let's be honest,” Helsby said. “Look, one thing we've learned about Griffin is that if he doesn't want to go, he doesn't want to go and that's it.”

“But...”

“Didn't you want to give him the ol' one-two just a few weeks ago?” Pennebrygg's voice asked. “Well – I mean, if you've changed your mind...”

“Maybe he likes Griffin now!” Helsby teased.

“What? No!” Archer said. “Who'd even fall for someone like him? I–” he cleared his throat, “–I'm just trying to be nice to him.”

“Then leave 'im alone,” Tweedy advised. “That's all the bloke really wants. He'll be fine.”

A pause.

“Alright.”

“Now let's go,” Helsby said.

Griffin hid behind the doorway as the group passed by. Once they were gone, he peeked out the door for a few seconds, before shutting it.

Well, he knew it. Archer was just pitying him.

“ _What do you see in him?”_

He didn't know the others felt that way about him, though.

“ _Who'd even fall for someone like him?”_

“ _Then leave 'im alone. That's all the bloke really wants.”_

Did he really want to be alone? He knew he often said he couldn't bear to interact with everyone else, but...did he really want to be alone?

He wanted to be angry – but the one time he was supposed to be, he couldn't be. He was too tired to be angry.

Why was he too tired to refuse these thoughts?

A meow sounded at his feet. Griffin looked down to see his cat Eira walking towards him, before sitting down at his feet. He sighed.

“Sure, I'll feed you,” he said.

 


	9. A Drunk Man's Acts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archer and the Lodgers go out for drinks one more time, and meet someone they didn't expect to be there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, gotta love drunk people. When they're not violent, anyway.
> 
> (I have an eerie feeling a lot of this is patterned after some things in "That One Betting Pool", but I can't tell for sure.)

The other Lodgers had indeed been planning on going out that very night. Archer felt a little bad that he didn't get to make sure Griffin's answer was no, but the others were probably right. After being rejected quite a few times, the same answer might have been waiting for him. Not to mention they had known Griffin longer than he had, and the ladies might have made things sound a bit sadder than it actually was. Maybe the man was just happier that way.

So he tried not to think about it as he and the other men made their way out of the Society building and towards the pubs. Instead, he spent the time chatting with them about the various inventions he was planning to make the next week. The other men then discussed their own inventions, and how they were coming along.

"I think my bathysphere is coming along just fine," Helsby said. "I expect to finish it soon with the help of my assistant."

"Assistant?" Archer asked. He had never met anyone at the Society that called themselves Helsby's assistant.

Helsby grinned. "Yeah, Lavender and Cantilupe found him. We formed an instant bond – 'e knows the waters like no one else, and he's got a lot of limbs, so he really comes in handy!"

Oh. Archer had remembered seeing a giant octopus-like creature in Helsby's lab.

Helsby then felt around in his pockets, and frowned. "Oh, bugger," he said. "I've forgotten something. Listen, Archer – why don't you and Pennebrygg go ahead? Tweedy n'I'll go back."

Tweedy made a noise of annoyance. "All the way back?"

"Hey, it's important to me," Helsby said. "Let's go, while the night's young."

Tweedy sighed, but he wasn't going to argue further, so he put his hands in his pockets and walked back with Helsby to the Society. Archer and Pennebrygg watched them go, before they looked back at the road ahead.

"Well, let's go," Pennebrygg said. "I could use a drink. Besides, I made a functioning full-body automaton, so there's reason to celebrate."

"Sounds fun," Archer said. Pennebrygg nodded, but didn't say anything, and that left them both silent.

They walked on to the pub, and went inside. The smell of alcohol was everywhere, but to Archer it was strangely comforting. Several people were drunkenly singing songs in the corner, and a few working class ladies were chatting loudly at the nearest table. In fact, the only person that didn't seem to be talking to anyone was an old man with his head down on the counter of the pub, as if he were sleeping. The only few empty seats were at the counter next to this old man, and so Archer and Pennebrygg found themselves sitting there.

"Ah, I'll order the drinks," Pennebrygg said, and turned to the bartender, trying to catch her attention. She didn't look towards him, and he frowned, but kept trying.

Archer propped his head up on his and, and pressed his lips together, before raising his other hand. "Miss?" he asked, and the bartender looked at him. He pointed at himself and his companion. "We'd like a couple of beer, and we're expecting company too," he said. The bartender gave his companion an odd look, but went right to work. Pennebrygg sighed tiredly, and Archer patted his shoulder.

"Ugh...Archer?"

The voice came from the old man beside him. Archer started, and looked to his side. He then realized that the man sitting beside him wasn't old at all - and he recognized that voice.

"Wha – Griffin?!"

Pennebrygg looked over, and his eyebrows shot up as well. Griffin looked up at them, but the look on his face wasn't its usual sour expression. No – he looked sort of sad.

"What're you doing 'ere?" Pennebrygg asked. "I thought you were busy with your work."

Griffin stared at them plaintively, before sniffling. "Of course," he said, "of course you all think I'm busy with work! You think m'just a machine tha' does nothing but work!"

"We-we don't say that," Archer said.

"Yeah, but you all think I just want to be alone!" Griffin replied, his voice breaking. "I heard wha' you said; m'not deaf."

Pennebrygg squinted. "Are you...crying?"

"No," Griffin said, even as his eyes visibly welled up with tears. He sniffled again. "Fuck, I dunno."

Archer watched Griffin as the bartender put out the drinks for him and Pennebrygg, and then as if it was an afterthought, one for Griffin as well. Griffin immediately took his glass and downed half its contents in one gulp.

Was Griffin drunk? That would explain what he was blubbering about. Archer was a little surprised to know that he was a sad drunk - if anything, he thought Griffin was more the drunk who started fights in alleyways. Or was he confusing Griffin's behavior with Hyde's?

Archer sipped his own drink, looking to Pennebrygg. Then he put the glass down. "Uh, what should we do with him?"

"I don't know," Pennebrygg whispered. "Keep him company, or something?"

Archer looked down at his drink. "Sounds like what we said hurt him a little."

"If it hurt him, why didn't he just tell us?" Pennebrygg asked in reply. "He never hesitates to let us know when something makes 'im angry; but this is kind of sad."

"Don't talk 'bout me like m'not here," Griffin slurred. He drank the rest of the liquor in his glass, before putting it down ungracefully. "Unless...unless you really do think I should be alone!"

Griffin's voice broke as he raised it, and just as Archer thought he couldn't get any more uncomfortable, the other man started to cry. Archer and Pennebrygg shared a look, before the former turned back to Griffin.

"Look, we-we don't think you should be alone," Archer tried to comfort him. "You just tell us that you want to be on your own sometimes, and it makes us think that you're a loner, you know?"

Griffin sniffled, mucus trickling out of his nose. "But I want other people t'see my work..."

"Then ask," Archer said. "And nicely. You know, we're trying to be friendly to you. It's not just me."

"Who-who'd...who'd like someone...like me?" Griffin asked through small sobs.

"I'm sure there're lots of people who'd like you," Pennebrygg joined in, a little awkwardly.

Griffin coughed. "S'hard to believe."

"Don't you have anyone who liked you before?" Pennebrygg tilted his head. "Like, a girl you knew?"

Griffin wiped his face with his sleeve, but before he could say anything, the door to the pub opened, and Helsby and Tweedy walked in. Tweedy spotted them first, and with a look of surprise, walked up to them with Helsby following him. Helsby was the first to speak, however.

"Well, well, well!" Helsby said. "If it isn't Griffin, out of his lab! How're you doing?"

At the sound of his name, Griffin looked up, but just as he was about to say something, he covered his mouth. He groaned, mumbling something about being sick. Archer got up from his seat.

"Hold on, I'll take care of this," Archer said, slinging Griffin's arm around his shoulder and helping him out of his chair.

"We can take care of Griffin, y'know; you don't have to handle everything that's got his name on it," Tweedy said, but Archer stopped him.

"I want to," Archer said. "But thanks." With Griffin out of his chair now, Archer led him out through the door.

Helsby, Tweedy, and Pennebrygg stared after them, before Tweedy looked to Pennebrygg.

"Was he...crying?"

"Mm, yeah."

 

* * *

 

Once they were out the door, Griffin stumbled a little, and braced himself against the wall. Archer watched him to see if he would throw up, but despite his gagging, nothing came out. The other man hiccuped, leaning against the wall. He rubbed at his eyes, before looking back at Archer.

"...Just like college," he slurred, before coughing. "College's just like this."

Archer blinked. "What?"

"No one...wanted t'be around me," Griffin said. "No one liked me."

Archer stared at him, while he continued to lean himself on the wall and groan. Why was Griffin telling him this? It made him feel a little awkward. Then again, maybe the man was just letting out some pent-up emotions. Maybe he was just uncomfortable because he had never seen this side of Griffin before – maybe some of the Lodgers hadn't either. Archer patted his shoulder.

"You're not in college anymore," Archer said. "You're with us now. Your friends. I'll try to be your friend too, if that's what you want."

Griffin swallowed, and looked up at him. Then he turned fully towards Archer, taking two steps forward before tripping over his own feet.

"Careful!" Archer said, just as he caught him. Griffin seemed more heavy than he had been before in his arms, and the two men ended up looking each other in the eye once more.

"Archer..." Griffin said.

Archer was suddenly paralyzed as Griffin held his arms tightly, and stood up a little straighter, before leaning forward.

Oh, God.

What was he doing?

Archer could suddenly see every little detail on Griffin's face, from his flushed cheeks to a cut below his eye that didn't quite heal after their fight. He then stared at the other man's white eyelashes, still lined with droplets of tears, and into his grey eyes – or were they blue? And then Griffin's breath was on his skin, and his eyes widened–

–and then Griffin's head flopped down onto his shoulder.

Archer was still frozen for about two and a half seconds, before he fully processed that Griffin was softly breathing on his shoulder, his eyes closed. Then he realized that Griffin was staying on his shoulder.

What..just what was Griffin about to do?

Was he going to _kiss_ him?!

But that couldn't be right. Griffin hated him, didn't he?

He still did, right?

The door to the pub opened again, and Helsby peeped out from behind it. "What's taking you two so long?" he asked, but then stopped and stared.

"I..." Archer tried to say, feeling sweat collect on his skin.

Helsby stared a little longer, before a grin appeared on his face.

Oh, no.

 


	10. A Sober Man's Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumors spread, and Archer and Griffin deny, deny, deny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, at least this time the rumors surrounding Archer didn't end up in a betting pool.

The next day, the rumor had already spread throughout the Society that Archer must have done something romantic with Griffin. Archer had hoped that the rumors meant romantic as in "unrealistic", but it didn't. The Lodgers were already making assumptions about what it was - well, thankfully, some of the other Lodgers didn't believe the rumors. They thought it was a whole load of poppycock after remembering that fistfight the two men had the other night.

Archer tried to convince Helsby that no, nothing had happened between him and Griffin. Helsby tried to squeeze every detail out of him that morning alone, but nothing came of it. Archer didn't think he had to reveal the way Griffin had gripped his arms and came too close for comfort, preparing to kiss him–

–and that was the most confusing part about it.

Didn't Griffin hate him? That must have been the reason why he rejected him every time he asked him if he wanted to go out for the night. He had punched Griffin first, and revealed that he was asking him for a night out on the town these past few days out of pity, and Griffin had probably heard. Griffin must loathe him with every fiber of his being.

So why did he try to do something like that last night?

The other Lodgers soon realized that they were getting nowhere with Archer, though, and Helsby's witness wasn't enough. What they needed was confirmation from another source, and that source was Griffin.

 

* * *

 

Lavender walked with Flowers on her way to Griffin's room. Flowers had been looking around her, as if uneasy, and Lavender couldn't ignore this behavior. So as they drew a few doors closer to Griffin's room, she looked to Flowers.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Me? I..." Flowers looked at her as if she had been contemplating deeply and subsequently interrupted. "I was just thinking - do you actually believe that the two of them were doing something together?"

Lavender shook her head. "As interesting as it would be, I don't know if Griffin's actually gotten over his grudge. He could really have just been drunk and passed out. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"Right," Flowers said. "Right, um...but what about Archer? He seems to have been nice to Griffin these past few days."

"Archer's trying to make amends for their fight," Lavender told her. "Actually, I think we might've put the idea in his head - talking about Griffin not having any connections to anyone the other day." She waved a hand. "But enough of what I think. What about you, Flowers?"

Flowers looked down. Lavender wanted to ask her what was really going on, but they had already reached Griffin's room. They both looked up at the door, and Lavender took a deep breath, before knocking.

They waited a couple of moments, before Lavender heard footsteps coming towards them from inside, and the door clicked, swinging open to reveal Griffin. He looked particularly disheveled, and he was wearing a dressing gown over his clothes from last night.

"Oh, it's you," he said. "What do you want?"

Lavender tried to look over his shoulder. "You're not doing anything, are you?"

Griffin pinched the bridge of his nose. "Keep your voice down, I've got a bloody headache," he said tiredly. "Does Jekyll want to see me, or something?"

"Nothing - uh, we just want to know something about last night," Flowers replied, clasping her hands together. "You were out, weren't you?"

"What do you think?" Griffin snapped.

"We just want to know if something happened between you and Archer last night," Lavender said bluntly, moving so that she was slightly in front of Flowers. "Everyone's talking about it."

She noticed that his eyes widened a little, before he sighed. "I don't remember a damn thing about last night," he told them. "Didn't you ask Archer for his side of things?"

"We did, but he's denying anything happened," Lavender said.

"Listen, I don't give a shit about what happened last night if I don't remember any of it," Griffin replied. "Just take what Archer said and be done with it. He's the one who should know everything. God, you all talk too much."

He moved to close the door. Lavender wanted to say something, but just as her mind caught up, the door was shut. Lavender sighed out of her nose, and then put her hands on her hips. So she must have been right after all.

She looked to her side, where a certain pair of men were trying to look innocent, as if they weren't just eavesdropping on the conversation. She sent a smirk their way.

"Well, it looks like you're safe," she told Archer. "He doesn't remember a thing."

Archer sighed in relief, while Helsby frowned. "That can't be it!" he said. "Just because he thinks Archer's right when he doesn't remember anything doesn't mean Archer _is_ right!"

"I keep telling you, I told you everything I know!" Archer looked at Helsby. "I swear, I'm not lying - he really did just pass out on my shoulder!"

"We don't have any conclusive proof that they did anything other than what you walked in on," Flowers added.

"Psh," Helsby said. "Who would tell the truth if it embarrassed them?"

Lavender looked at Flowers as she began to argue with Helsby over whether Archer was telling the truth or not. She had the strangest feeling that her friend was more invested in this than she was with the other rumors floating around the Society. Then again, Flowers did believe that there was something good in everything, even the lowest of bugs. So Lavender let it slide and looked to Archer.

He seemed to be thinking about something.

Lavender then had a thought of her own.

 

* * *

 

Griffin had lied.

Of course he remembered everything that happened last night. He didn't think he would be able to forget anytime soon.

Ugh, this was the reason he hated alcohol. It always made him do something stupid. Now, work; work was always good for him - but he was so tired of work right now. Just a day off would probably help.

He put a hand to his head, and seated himself on a chair. This hangover was going to kill him if the sheer embarrassment of what he did last night didn't first. He looked around at the walls surrounding him, and groaned, just a little.

He had almost kissed Archer.

What the hell was he _thinking_? That he could do it and get away with it? That he could just stop resisting the way he felt about Archer? That everything could still go back to normal after he did such a thing?

That Archer would _like_ it if he kissed him?

No.

Archer was pitying him now, sure, but if he kissed the other man, things would get worse. No - maybe he would even be humiliated.

Come to think of it...why hadn't Archer already humiliated him? He thought Archer would have made a joke out of his behavior last night by now. Griffin, drunk and sad and desperate for a kiss? It was pretty funny to think that a person who had it all together suddenly broke. Why wasn't that what was being talked about in the Society instead?

Had Archer told them nothing strange had happened because he was embarrassed by it too?

_"I'll try to be your friend, too, if that's what you want."_

No - maybe Archer was saving both their skins in the only way he could.

Griffin sighed. Archer was a good man. Not perfect, sure, but good.

He had to admit, it felt nice when Archer said he and the other Lodgers were Griffin's friends now. Not that he entirely believed it, though.

In addition to the headache he was having, there was a feeling of something grabbing his heart.

He couldn't break again. Just one night of weakness was enough for him.

Eira walked up to him at that moment, purring. Griffin looked down at the cat, and Eira turned her head up at him, watching expectantly.

"Eira, you little bugger," he commented, bending down and picking her up. He placed her on his lap, before scratching behind her ears. Eira closed her eyes, and placed her head down. Staring down at her, he raised an eyebrow. "You're getting fat. What've I been feeding you?"

Eira only purred a little more. Griffin's hand moved to scratch her back, and he absently thought about it if she was catching mice in the kitchen. Maybe that was why she getting fatter.

Mice...

Hm.

Maybe he should continue with his experiments.

...As soon as this hangover faded.

 


	11. What A Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Questions are asked about a drunk Griffin; some said, some not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, well - what can I say, I just love to update.
> 
> Hyde and Rachel are here, but only for a little while, and they don't even get to say much, at least not to advance the plot.
> 
> Also, Griffin is still a jerk.

“I'm telling you, Rachel, that man was practically seven feet tall!” Hyde said, chomping on a cupcake. “And I actually did manage to kick his ass!”

“I find that hard to believe,” Rachel said as she arranged the knives in the knife holder.

Hyde crossed his legs over the counter he was sitting on. “I get into fights all the time; how is that hard to believe?”

“It's because you're fucking scrawny,” Griffin said from his place by the kettle on the stove. Hyde turned to see him casually look back down at the book he was holding.

“This physique of mine isn't scrawny; it's the perfect form for speed and tight spaces,” Hyde replied, pointing at himself proudly. Then he smirked. “Especially that one kind of tight space it seems you haven't gotten enough of, Mr. Griffin.”

From behind his book, Griffin glared at Hyde. Rachel rolled her eyes, and walked over to the now whistling kettle. “What do you know, Edward? You're with Jekyll,” she said, taking the kettle off the heat.

"Jekyll, yes, I just love to keep his thoughts away from work and other boring things when we're together at night," Hyde said.

"I know," Rachel said. She poured the hot water into a coffee-pot. “I just didn't think Henry would go after someone like you.”

"It makes both our jobs quite easier." Hyde grinned widely.

Rachel began to place ground coffee into the coffee-pot. "Yes, but just because you've found each other doesn't mean you should go teasing other people who don't have such a good thing."

"Excuse me?" Griffin narrowed his eyes, at Rachel this time.

Rachel nervously laughed. "Sorry, it's just-"

"Are you sure you don't have a woman?" Hyde asked. Then he leaned back. "Or man. I'm not going to judge."

Griffin's eyes widened noticeably, and he hid his face behind the book. Rachel tilted her head to see that his ears were bright red.

"What's it to you?" Griffin growled. "It's none of your business whether I'm interested in anyone or not."

Hyde laughed. "But it's none of  _your_ business whether I'm keeping Jekyll up at night or not, is it?"

"Sod off," Griffin said simply.

As Hyde finished off his second cupcake, Rachel finished preparing the coffee, and then poured it into a cup, before she handed it to Griffin. “Sorry for the wait.”

“Hmph.” Griffin took the cup of coffee and blew on it. “At least you don't always idly chatter, Miss Pidgley. That's all these fools around here seem to do.” He then took a sip, giving Hyde a look once again.

It was at that moment that Lavender came into the kitchen and walked over to Griffin.

“Griffin, did you tell the truth when you said you didn't remember if anything happened between you and Archer?” she asked. “Or were you too embarrassed to admit you had been romantic with him?”

Griffin spat out the coffee in his mouth, and Lavender dodged so that she wouldn't get hit.

“...Romantic?” Rachel asked, while Hyde whistled.

Griffin coughed for about five seconds, before looking back at Lavender. “What-what the bloody hell are you saying?!”

“Ooh, so you did lie about not remembering anything from last night,” Lavender went on. “If you had told the truth, you wouldn't have reacted in such a way.”

Hyde and Rachel looked from Lavender to Griffin as the man turned red in the face. “I _was_ telling the truth!” he replied. “It was – why – fuck – why in the world would you think I was being romantic with that bloke? That's absurd!”

“It sounds just as absurd as a person like you going out and getting drunk.” Lavender put her hands on her hips. “And what did you do last night? You went out and got drunk!”

Griffin crossed his arms, marking his spot in his book with a finger. “Sure, I went out and drank a bleeding ton of alcohol. But what makes you think I lied?”

“I have a hypothesis,” Lavender said. “You're the kind of person who blames other people for things that don't go your way – why didn't you blame anyone when I told you about the rumors Helsby had spread and you supposedly didn't remember anything?”

“That's because I don't give a shit!” Griffin yelled.

“You would if they were rumors about you and someone you hate doing something like that together!” Lavender said. “I know you – you would give a damn if you didn't remember what happened, and it could be true! So you do remember – and you are embarrassed by it!”

Griffin clenched his free hand into a fist, and slammed it down onto the counter. “Fine!” he shouted. “So maybe I do remember! But nothing happened, and I don't bleeding care _because_ nothing happened! Oh, you'd take any excuse just to out me as a liar, wouldn't you? You just want me to say I care about something, because that's what normal human beings do, don't they? Well, guess what? You're a right fool!”

Lavender was stricken silent. She stared at him as Hyde and Rachel, all but forgotten by the two, watched as well. After a few moments, Hyde uncrossed his legs and jumped up onto the counter.

“Well, I suppose you two ought to take your argument elsewhere,” he said. “But as for me, I've got to go – can't waste my night watching the drama between you two.”

“Yeah, sod off,” Griffin snapped, glancing at Hyde.

Hyde put his hands up, though he didn't seem to actually be bothered in the slightest. “If you insist,” he said dismissively, before turning on his heel and heading towards the window, before jumping out of it.

Rachel watched Hyde leave, before looking back at Lavender. Her hands were balled into fists, and there was anger in her eyes.

“So that's what you think of me,” she finally said, in a low voice. “You're horrible.”

Lavender turned away, walking towards the kitchen door. “I can't believe I ever tried to be friends with you. You might be a man who talks to his cat because he doesn't have anyone to talk to, but I can finally see why you're so alone. You're just cold and unloving – you don't like anyone, so why should anyone bother liking you?”

“...Fine!” Griffin yelled after her. “I don't need you to take pity on me! I don't need anyone in this damned building to do so either!”

Lavender stopped in the doorway, and then looked coldly at him. “Do shut up, Mr. Griffin,” she said, before fully exiting the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

There was a stinging feeling within Lavender's chest as she walked out into the Society's atrium, and she hated it.

The worst part about feeling this anger was that she didn't know how to react. She had seen this situation coming, she had known Griffin would lose his temper with even her someday – but she wasn't prepared for him to outright lump her in with all the people he constantly belittled.

And yet – and yet, she had tried to be friendly. Somehow, she had believed that if she tried hard enough, she could get through to him. She couldn't change him – that temper didn't seem like it was going anywhere – but she had wanted him to soften, just a little.

Well, apparently this was what happened when she tried to be nice.

Lavender walked up the stairs leading to the second floor, and was mulling over these thoughts when something exploded from inside a room. She looked up – at first she thought it might be Luckett, but judging by the direction of the sound and Bird running towards a certain door, she could see that the explosion had come from Archer's personal room.

 

* * *

 

Bird didn't even bother knocking before he opened Archer's unlocked door to see Archer sitting in front of a wrecked machine, his face and clothes blackened from the explosion. Archer coughed, before turning around and pushing his goggles up from his eyes.

“...Well, I messed that one up.” He looked at Bird. “What can I do ye for?” Archer asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Are you alright, Archer?” Bird looked him and the room over. “I mean, Luckett works with explosions all the time, but getting blown up is no joke.”

“I'm fine, I'm fine,” Archer waved his hands. Then he paused, and sniffed the air. “Though I think something in my room's probably caught fire.”

He turned, and picked up a watering can that was presumably for his plants, before using it to pour water onto a burning chair. This was a little embarrassing, to be honest – his inventions rarely ever blew up. Archer looked back at Bird, who was still watching him.

“You've never messed something up this badly before,” Bird said. “S'there something on your mind?”

Archer looked back to the chair he was watering, the fire now put out. He pulled the watering can back, biting his lip.

How was he going to admit to what caused his lack in concentration? Was he going to say that he was thinking things that shouldn't be thought of? And why was he even thinking such things at all?

Why was he thinking so much of a certain drunk man, gripping his arms tight, coming in too close for comfort?

“Archer?”

Archer was snapped out of his thoughts, and he looked back at Bird. “Huh?”

“Looks like there is something,” the older man deduced. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No thanks,” Archer replied instantly. “S'fine, really.”

Bird's eyes turned to the remains of the machine Archer had been working on. “Sure?”

Archer nodded. “Nothing to worry about.” He smiled.

He held this smile as Bird nodded to him as well, and slowly closed the door. Once Bird was gone, he let it go. Bird probably hadn't believed him, but as it was now, that was tomorrow's worries.

Archer exhaled loudly. He couldn't be thinking about Griffin nearly kissing him, if that was indeed what Griffin was going to do. He walked over to the wrecked machine, thinking of how he was going to clean this mess.

As well as how he was going to clean his mind of those thoughts.

Then he realized that his face was burning hot, with blood rushing to his cheeks.

 


	12. Discussing Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archer and Lavender talk about Griffin, and figure some things out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fanfic is going to end soon, I can feel it.
> 
> Also if it wasn't obvious before, I love Archer and Griffin's dynamics with Flowers and Lavender. The four of them make a great team. (wink wink)

Days passed.

Things returned to some semblance of normal within the Society, with new scientific breakthroughs and failures and Jekyll recruiting more Lodgers in between. Archer did notice, though, that whenever Griffin came into a room (and people noticed; he did have that strange knack of going unnoticed within a group when he wasn't in a rage), people still looked up at him a little awkwardly. Archer guessed that it was either due to the recent shouting match the other man had with Lavender, or to them knowing what drunk Griffin was like (no thanks to mostly Helsby).

“ _No one...wanted t'be around me. No one liked me.”_

At this point in time, Archer knew that most of Griffin's people skills consisted of him pushing people away. He didn't take kindly to people interrupting him while he worked, and if they got too close he would bite.

So why, when he was drunk, did he try to kiss Archer?

Fuck.

And why was Archer thinking so much about this? He shouldn't care. It was probably done on a whim. People did stupid things when they were drunk. And Griffin could place his lips on whomever he wanted.

...Did that mean he wanted Archer?

Stop!

Just as Archer was troubling himself with these thoughts, he bumped straight into a shorter Lodger holding a stack of papers. The papers spilled on the floor, and Archer bent down with the other Lodger to pick up the papers.

“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,” he said, picking up three papers at a time and stuffing them together.

“It's alright,” Lavender's voice told him, as he looked up to see her. She continued to pick up the papers without looking at him. “I wasn't exactly looking where I was going, either.”

“Still – I should've been looking, I'm the one without a bunch of paper in my hands,” Archer went on. He looked over one of the papers in his hands, and sighed – these must have been important.

Lavender looked up at Archer, and tried to smile. “...Well, I guess I know how you feel now, Archer,” she said.

“What?” Archer asked, before putting two and two together. “You mean about the fight you had with Griffin?”

Lavender stood up, much of the papers in her hands already. “Well, sort of. He called me a fool, and – I felt very slighted. I couldn't help yelling at him.”

“Same here; back when I hated him, anyway,” Archer said.

He handed her the papers he collected, but Lavender shook her head. “Help me carry them?”

“Sure.”

 

* * *

 

“I just felt like I had to ask him something, and then he got defensive and yelled at me,” Lavender told Archer as they walked down the halls of the Society to her and Cantilupe's shared lab.

“What did you ask him about?” Archer turned to her, and Lavender in turn looked away. “Nothing in particular,” she denied. Then she blinked, and looked back at him guiltily. “Actually, I thought Griffin was lying about what he said – about not remembering if you two did anything the other night.”

“You – why would you think that?” Archer asked, and turned his head away himself as he felt heat rush to his cheeks.

“I have my own ways of deducing things like that,” Lavender said, holding her head up to catch the slipping papers. “Anyway, Griffin got mad, and he said I was an idiot. Like he's an expert on what an idiot is.”

“Mm,” was all Archer could say in response. He thought back to the time when he was new at the Society, and butting heads with Griffin – he wondered if he sounded that way to anyone else. He looked back at Lavender, and wondered if she was the type of person to stoop down to the level of throwing a few punches at the object of her loathing. Then again, Griffin was the kind of person who normally evoked the feeling of wanting to punch him when he lost control of his tongue.

“I mean, I knew he was going to snap at me eventually,” Lavender continued. “But I don't know – I tried to be nice before; I just wanted to show him that he's a human being like the rest of us.”

“...He doesn't feel like he's one of us, though,” Archer found himself saying.

“I knew that – he must think we're inferior to him, since he keeps calling us stupid,” Lavender added.

“No – the other night, when he got drunk, he literally cried because he thought we don't like him,” Archer went on. “Something happened while he was in college, he said; he believed no one liked him there.”

Lavender adjusted the papers. “If he wants other people to be nice to him, then why doesn't he be nicer to anyone else?”

Archer shrugged. “I...dunno.”

The two of them came closer to Lavender and Cantilupe's lab, and Lavender kept to herself. Archer wasn't sure if he should ask what she was thinking about, but he was at least glad she wasn't asking him what he was thinking about lately. If anyone knew that, he would be mortified.

But why, indeed, didn't Griffin just be honest about his emotions? If he wanted the other Lodgers to be his friends, why didn't he just ask?

...And if Griffin did remember about the other night, why didn't he just walk up to him and clarify whether he meant to kiss him or not?

Archer shook his head. Griffin might need to talk to everyone about his pent-up feelings, but he was entitled to that latter secret. It was too much to ask that the other man reveal something that clearly made them both uncomfortable. He should probably drop it.

“...I ought to talk to him,” Lavender said suddenly, stopping in front of her lab.

Archer stopped as well. “Huh?”

“I think I've figured it out – why he says he wants to be alone, but wants to have other people around him,” Lavender continued. “God, I have to apologize to him.”

“Apologize – what for?”

“I don't know why I didn't see it before, of course!” she rambled. She placed her stack of papers into Archer's arms atop the one he was already carrying. “I have no time to waste – I've got to go to him right now! Just place the papers on my table!”

Archer then stared after Lavender as she hurriedly left, muttering something that he couldn't hear. He blinked, and then sighed, before knocking on the door as best as he could with his hands full.

He had been lucky Cantilupe was inside – the two of them where working on verifying a sighting of a behemoth from a small town near a forest. Cantilupe had looked over the papers, and said something about it being one of Lavender's splendid studies.

On leaving Cantilupe and Lavender's lab, Archer suddenly wondered what would have happened if Griffin had managed to kiss him that night.

Would that have made things worse? Definitely. Would the gossip have become heavier if Helsby had caught them? Of course. Would sober Griffin hate him even if drunk Griffin initiated the kiss? Most likely.

...Would drunk Griffin have smiled at him, though?

Archer's cheeks flushed again, and he covered his face with a hand.

What – why was he thinking about Griffin smiling at him?

The answer then arrived like a shot to the head – he wanted to see Griffin smile.

And not just out of curiosity, not just because Griffin had never smiled in front of him before. No – he genuinely wanted to see Griffin smile, even if just a little. He was concerned for him, too – and it wasn't out of pity anymore.

He thought about the man a lot now...because he cared about what would happen to him. He wanted Griffin to be alright – he wanted to see him happy and contented, just once.

Oh, shit.

This was all a platonic thing, though, right? It couldn't be anything other than that. He was just stressing himself out over it – that was the reason why his heart was beating wildly, wasn't it?

Still, though...what about the kiss?

Dammit!

 


	13. Things That Need To Be Said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lavender says what needs to be said, but Griffin doesn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lavender means well, of course, but her way of fixing things doesn't go as planned.
> 
> Also I think this might be a bit unrealistic, but then again, I feel that what Griffin feels may be relatable too. It was for me, anyway.

Eira pawed at the cages of the rat cage, meowing loudly. She turned her head expectantly to Griffin, who had lowered another rat cage onto the table and was now putting his hands on his hips.

“For the last time, Eira, you can't get those,” he chided. “I need those for my research.”

The cat only put her paw down, and meowed again. Griffin sighed, and sat down, the squeaks of the rats in the cages providing background noise.

“You're already eating fish,” Griffin said. “You could afford not to kill those very important rats.”

Eira stared at him with wide eyes. Griffin stared at her too, and then frowned.

“What do you want me to do? Give you more milk?” he asked.

As if in response, Eira put a paw down on the rat cage in front of her again.

“Eira, just–” He made a noise of frustration, and leaned back in his chair. “This would be so much easier if we could both communicate like humans do.” A pause. “Not to mention it'd make me sound sane if you could actually talk.”

Eira put her paw down again, and then turned in the direction of the door just as someone knocked on it. Griffin looked at the door was well, and his brows furrowed together.

“Who's out there?” he asked.

“It's me, Lavender,” Lavender's voice said.

Griffin frowned. “Go away. Haven't you maddened me enough?”

“I'm not here to fight,” Lavender replied. “I just want to talk to you.”

“If it's about what I did while I was drunk, then forget it. It's none of your business what I do or what I say. You should know that by now.”

“Yes, and – I'm sorry I pushed you.”

Eira moved to the edge of the table, and jumped off, treading towards the door. Griffin felt his own expression relax a little – but should he take the bait?

After a while, he realized that he had been silent for too long, and sighed again before getting up and walking over to the door. He opened it, and indeed there was Lavender standing there, trying to look him in the eye. Griffin eyed her as well, before breaking the silence after a few seconds.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I want to say I'm sorry,” Lavender said. “I just – I didn't think I'd hurt you. I said some stupid things to you, but that was only because I was mad. I don't think you deserve to be alone. You just have to let me know if I step out of line, because I care about your feelings.”

She had said this with such clarity that it actually took Griffin by surprise. He could only blink a few times in succession. “You...you do?”

“Yes,” Lavender said sincerely. “You had no business calling me a fool, but I had no business calling you a liar, either. I should have left it alone if I figured that much. You could very well be lying just so nothing gets out to everyone else.”

Griffin opened the door a little wider. From below his knees, Eira slowly walked over to Lavender, and rubbed herself against Lavender's skirt. He looked down at Eira, and then closed his mouth, which had been open a little. What could he say to that?

He looked back to Lavender, and then set his face in its default sour expression.

“Unlike my cat, I don't chase after everything that grabs my attention,” he said. “Who put you up to this?”

“No one put me up to anything,” Lavender said, her small smile faltering. “Doesn't it ever occur to you that people want to be friends with you for the sake of being friends with you?”

Something seemed to tighten in Griffin's chest. Eira meowed softly.

“I might lie, but I'm not the only liar in the building,” Griffin insisted. He was not going to fall for anyone's tricks. “Tell me who's making you pity me.”

“I'm not pitying you, and no one's telling me to say these things to you,” Lavender asserted. “Archer and I just had a talk and–”

“ _Archer_?!” Griffin asked. The ache in his chest grew. “Did he tell you about the shit I did while I was drunk?”

“Everyone knows you cried, Griffin; Pennebrygg told us,” she replied. “But Archer told me you felt so lonely, and I didn't know...”

“Whatever Archer said, it's all a lie!” He was panicking now. “I never said that!”

“You're not in college anymore!” Lavender cried, and he was taken aback. He fell quiet as she continued, “You have people here who want to get along with you. We know how angry you get, and we might not always understand if you want things done a certain way. But you don't have to live in fear of being rejected. You don't have to push us away because you're afraid of what we'll say to you.”

“...You're just feeling sorry for me.” Griffin ground his teeth together.

“No, I'm not,” Lavender said. She opened her arms wide. “Come here.”

Griffin moved to take a step back into his room, but before he could fully back away Lavender moved forward and embraced him.

He was frozen – what could he say? What could he do? He couldn't loosen up and return the gesture – he didn't know if he could handle that. She would spread the word, and everyone would know what he was really like...and then they might get tired of him. If he approached them every time he felt like he was alone, or if he needed to release his frustrations, they would soon tire of his complaining. They would reject him again. He couldn't – he couldn't let that happen!

But her embrace was so warm...and Archer's words had meant a lot to him too...

They were just feeling sorry for him, weren't they, though? Wasn't it all just a formality just so he wouldn't snap at them? And in a moment of weakness, he had given them the right place to dig, so that he would be forced to bare himself to them and they would have what they wanted.

His lip was twitching, and his hands were shaking now. Lavender was still holding him, now rubbing his back. The Lodgers who had happened to see them were staring. Griffin felt as if he were under a hot, bright spotlight – he wanted attention, but not in this situation.

He wanted to be above everyone else in his work so that he couldn't be hurt by them – not here, not in an embrace where people could see him, where even after her admittedly sweet gesture he was still in a position to be rejected.

That was what they always did to the funny little albino kid, didn't they?

Tears were forming in his eyes. His heart was beating wildly. God, he couldn't cry, this is as humiliating as it is.

So he said the only thing that could fix his problem.

“Get off me.”

Lavender looked up at him – apparently he had surprised her.

“I said get off.” He looked away, the next word uttered more softly. “Please.”

Lavender did as she was told and backed away. Her eyes had widened; did she see his own wet eyes? He looked back down, where Eira was already going back into his room. Still looking down at his feet, he nodded just a little and took a hold of the door before closing it.

Griffin then stood at the door a long time, furiously wiping at the tears that threatened to fall.

Lord, he was a grown man, he shouldn't be crying over something as stupid as the possibility of being rejected. He should shove that fear back into the corner of his mind, and focus on his work. Work was all that kept him from feeling these stupid things, work wasn't something that made him cry, work was all he had in this world.

And from his very first day here, Archer had interrupted it.

Griffin realized that Archer was the reason behind all this – Archer was the reason why he had gotten mad enough to cause a fistfight. Archer was the reason why he had overworked himself to the point of wanting to go out and get drunk. Archer was the reason why everyone knew about his sobbing, why Lavender knew exactly where the crack in his armor was.

And to make things worse, he had fallen in love with Archer, with his smile and his green eyes and his words about becoming friends and the way he caught him when he stumbled.

This was all Archer's fault. Good-willed, handsome Christopher Archer's fault.

A cold feeling settled in his stomach, and even the squeaks of the mice and Eira's meowing seemed distant to him.

 


	14. An Epiphany

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love is in the air, and Flowers gives Archer advice once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much I can say here, other than there is a bit of gay around here, and that Flowers is a real winner.
> 
> Also when I say Archer didn't want to tell anyone what his new machine does, it's because I honestly don't know myself.

Over the next few days, Archer began drawing up plans again for another machine. He didn't tell anyone else, not even Bird, what it was supposed to be for – he wanted it to be a pleasant surprise. He scribbled out measurements and materials for the machine, and filled the waste bins with various papers that had errors on them.

All the while, he tried to think of something other than Griffin and his feelings.

Griffin had practically sealed himself in his room for those days, having food and coffee taken up to him. Rachel was the only one who had any interaction with him, and even after she had tried to get something out of him, she had only received one syllable answers and angry looks.

Archer didn't know what had caused Griffin to do this. Maybe in her epiphany, Lavender had somehow made things worse? Being caught up in his work, he hadn't the time to ask her. She was pretty busy with her work too, anyway. Nothing had been said for sure around the Society, either – just some wild theories about it. That was odd. Lavender was normally a propagator of gossip around the Society.

Maybe Griffin had a new bit of work to cut his teeth on. That was it. He normally cut himself off from people when he did this, right?

But why would he limit himself to working to his room? Was there someone he didn't want to see? Was...was it Archer?

Somehow, no matter what Archer thought of, it always came back to him and Griffin. Somehow his mind always found itself occupied with what Griffin was possibly doing. He had caught up with the rumors about the man's situation, he had hoped that he was doing fine. He wanted Griffin to be fine.

A thought swelled up from the bottom of his belly – he wanted Griffin to go out with him for drinks, and he wanted Griffin to finish that kiss.

He scrawled a word wrong on the plans. Ugh – and that was in pen, too. Now he had to draw it over again. He crumpled up the paper, and searched for a new, blank one.

What did it matter to him if the other man kissed him, anyway? That had nothing to do with Griffin's happiness or how he was doing, right? That was just a petty, selfish wish, and he had no right to want it to be granted. What mattered more was getting Griffin out of that room – but how would he do that?

It was none of his business, though. Griffin probably just needed some space.

What if he was hurt, though? He knew the man didn't really want to be alone. What if something had troubled Griffin, and Archer didn't know?

Archer scratched his chin, then went back to writing. He tried to tune out the chatter of the people around him in the common room, which was just beginning to ring in his ears. He was barely aware of someone sitting beside him, until that someone spoke.

“Archer?” Flowers asked. Archer looked up at her.

“Oh, Flowers,” Archer said. “Is everything alright?”

She sighed. “Not really – Lily is still a bit quieter than normal. I'm concerned for her.”

“Lily? You mean Miss Lavender, right?”

“Yes.” Flowers brushed a lock of hair from her face. “It must have something to do with her talking to Griffin the other day – they must have conversed about something heavy.”

“Yeah,” Archer nodded. He should have expected Griffin to come up sooner or later in the conversation – but the mention of his name made him a little more eager to hear what Flowers had to say for some reason.

Did that mean he...liked Griffin?

It sure felt like it.

But Griffin was a man, wasn't he? And he wasn't interested in men – he had been attracted to busty barmaids and fancy ladies alike. His feelings must have come from a deep, platonic concern. (That was something he didn't imagine he would ever say.)

Now that he thought of it, though...Griffin wasn't conventionally handsome, but he thought the way he carried himself was strangely attractive to him. Not to mention his pleasantly unusual white hair, and his enthralling grey eyes...

“Archer?” Flowers waved a hand in front of his face. “Archer?”

“Huh?” Archer snapped out of his thoughts. “Oh, sorry.”

“What were you thinking about?” she asked. “I mean, I don't want to pry, but it seems you were consumed by it.”

Pink dusted Archer's cheeks. “Nothing, I – um...” Flowers was as much a gossip as everyone else in this Society, but she was safe to talk to about hypothetical things, right? And he didn't have to tell her everything.

“Listen, Flowers...how do you tell someone you're concerned about them?” he asked.

Flowers blinked. “I normally tell Lily honestly that I'm concerned about her, and if she wants to tell me what's wrong, I listen to her, and then I give advice where it's needed. I think you should exercise a little more tact if you want to tell Griffin that you think something's wrong, though.”

“What–” Archer flipped the pen around in his hand. “Was it obvious?”

“The rest of the Lodgers you're friends with are fine and doing a healthy amount of work, you don't seem to have checked on Lavender in a while, and Griffin's the one who's holed up in his room. Not to mention you and Griffin have been awkward around each other.” Flowers crossed her arms. “You really didn't think I would figure it out? I am a scientist.”

Archer huffed, but then looked back down at his papers. “I don't know, is...is it weird that I'm feeling concern for someone who's done nothing but act aloof and reject me?”

“Not at all,” Flowers said. “I think that means you're a good person. It's really sweet.”

“I don't know about sweet,” Archer laughed a little, putting a hand behind his head. “But I just think he needs a little help.”

“I feel the same about Lily. I mean, I know she'll get through this, but I'm ready to be by her side no matter what.” Flowers sighed out of her nose. “Also, I am too a little worried about Mr. Griffin.”

“Do you like him?” Archer asked, and then slapped a hand over his mouth. He hadn't meant to say that – but he had to make sure his own concern towards Griffin wasn't anything romantic.

Flowers blushed. “What? No,” she said, giggling nervously. “Why would you think something like that?”

“Nothing – I just wanted to test a theory,” Archer said quietly.

“Whatever theory it was that you had in mind, I think you should try to check up on Griffin,” Flowers said. “I don't know if he would like it if you told him up front that you were concerned, but if you did something concrete for him, I think he would like it very much.”

“You do?” Archer asked.

“Yes,” Flowers said. “I want to see you and Griffin become friends. And don't trouble yourself about Lavender too much; I'll take care of her.”

“But what if he doesn't want to see me?” he asked. “What if I'm the reason why he's like this? I mean, it does seem to happen a lot in the month that I've been here.”

“Has it really been a month already?” she replied. Then she put a finger to her chin. “I highly doubt you could make anything worse with your good intentions, and if you've done something wrong, then find out what it is and make amends. That always makes people feel better.”

“Alright,” Archer said, setting his pen down. “I'll check on him first – let's see how that goes.” He gathered up the papers on the table before him, and arranged and stacked them before leaving. “Thanks, Flowers – you're a real winner.”

Flowers's face heated up again. “Oh, Archer,” she said, laughing again. Archer waved at her, and he left the common room.

Yes, he would go to Griffin and do something nice for him – he would see if the man was alright. And maybe that would dispel the strange thoughts he had in his head about the man. Then everything could go back to normal, and who knows – maybe the two of them could actually be friends, as Flowers said. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad between them.

He really did wish things wouldn't be bad between them.

 

* * *

 

From the common room, Virginia looked up from their book of alchemy, and to Flowers who was sitting beside them.

“You said you didn't like Griffin,” Virginia said, causing Flowers to look at them as they continued, “and I believe you. But...” They closed the book, holding their page with a finger.

“...Was it Archer this whole time?”

Flowers blinked, and then looked down at her hands on her lap.

“A month, Virginia,” she said softly. “It's only been a month, and I love him.”

“Love is a strong word,” Virginia commented.

“But what I feel for him is strong,” Flowers told them. “I love it when he's happy, I love it when he notices my work, I love the thought of kissing him – oh, Virginia, promise me you won't tell anyone else!”

Virginia was a little taken aback, but nodded. “I won't, as long as you don't let anything slip,” they said. “But wouldn't it be best if you nip it in the bud and tell him right away?”

“Love ripens like a fruit,” Flowers said. “It would be better if I waited for the right time.”

“Right time,” Virginia echoed, still sounding a little doubtful. “Flowers, I don't know if entrusting your heart to someone else – especially one of our colleagues – is the best thing to do.”

“Well, none of us can help it if we're in love.” Flowers looked Virginia in the eye. “I mean, I'm not head over heels for him – I won't become consumed by this feeling, if that's what you're worried about. But if anyone else in this building is in love with another Lodger, then I won't blame or discourage them. In the end, what they think is the best thing to do must be the best thing to do.”

“...And what will you do?” Virginia asked.

Flowers smiled widely. “Truth be told, first I'd thank God it was only you that heard my whole spiel, and not anyone else who could make fun of my sincere feelings.” She then looked down. “And then I'd pray that I can accept whoever Archer chooses in the end, if it isn't me.”

Virginia tried to grin. “If Archer hurts you in any way, I'll kick him for you,” they said, putting a hand on Flowers's shoulder. “I just want you to be happy. If being in love makes you happy, then I won't stand in your way.”

“Thank you.”

“...So will you tell Lavender?”

“Virginia – of course.”

 


	15. I Can't Handle This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The talk between Archer and Griffin doesn't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of free time at school today, so I thought, might as well write up the next chapter of this fanfic. Stay in school, kids, heh.
> 
> Also, please tell me whether or not I've been writing Lanyon right - I have no base knowledge of how to write him!

“Well, this Exhibition will be the best idea to promote the ideas of these scientists, Henry,” Robert Lanyon said as he and Jekyll casually walked down the stairs towards the atrium. “We could actually show the public that there's nothing to fear from these rogue scientists, as you say.”

Jekyll clasped his hands together. “You'll thank me later when everything goes swimmingly, Robert. We'll gain more sponsors, and the Lodgers will get research grants–”

“If we impress the right people, Henry, don't forget,” Lanyon pointed a finger upwards. “I'm sure neither you nor I will have a problem with that – the Lodgers, on the other hand...” He looked beside him, and narrowed his eyes at the sight of Helsby picking his nose while looking at a display in the atrium.

Jekyll tried to crack a smile. “As long as they prove that they aren't a threat to anyone, they'll be fine,” he said, leading Lanyon down the rest of the stairs. “I'm sure I can get them to, ah, improve their etiquette by the time the Exhibition comes around.”

“They better,” Lanyon said, raising an eyebrow. “I'm not sure the public will want to see just how much the Lodgers have made themselves at home here.”

Jekyll opened his mouth, but Lanyon looked up at something, and Jekyll followed his friend's eyes to see a certain white cat sitting at the end of the banister. It was licking its paws, and then rubbing its ears, as if it wasn't out of place at all.

“Uh, Henry, whose cat is that?” Lanyon asked.

“That's–”

“Eira!"

Jekyll and Lanyon both looked up at the source of the voice that had called out – it was Griffin, looking positively frazzled. “For God's sakes, Eira, don't run off like that!” He yelled from the top of the stairs. “I leave the door open for just one goddamned second...”

Eira's response was to jump off the banister, and right onto Jekyll's arms. Her tail wagged just a little, and she purred, rubbing herself against Jekyll's chest.

“Haha, hello there,” Jekyll said, holding Eira. His eyes turned back to Lanyon. “Mr. Griffin just loses his cat from time to time, it's perfectly normal.”

“Normal, sure,” Lanyon said, looking a little irked as Eira's tail curled in front of his face. Griffin walked down the stairs a little quickly meanwhile, in the hopes of catching Eira before she could run away.

Just as he reached Jekyll and Lanyon, though, someone came out from the common room and into the atrium – someone who looked up at them, no, Griffin, and began to grin.

“Griffin!” Archer said, moving towards the stairs. “You're out of your room!”

Jekyll looked towards Griffin, who was staring at Archer, his face unreadable. Eira had looked towards Archer as well, almost curiously. Archer continued to walk towards them, meanwhile, seemingly eager to get to the other man.

“I'm glad you're finally well enough to come out – looks like you need to clean up a little, I'll be honest, but s'better than locking yourself up for days on end, isn't it?” Archer continued. Once he saw that Griffin was just staring at him, though, he paused, and tilted his head. “...Griffin?”

“...You.” Griffin said, his voice low.

“What?”

“This is all your fault,” Griffin said, his voice getting louder as he went on. “I can't believe you'd tell me you're glad to see me after causing this much trouble!”

“Trouble?” Archer echoed, looking confused.

Griffin walked down the stairs and pointed a finger right in front of Archer. “Don't play dumb with me – you've caused me a whole load of trouble right from the very start. You're always getting in my way, and I can't stand it anymore!”

“Getting in your way?” Archer frowned. “Griffin, we haven't spoken to each other in a week.”

Griffin only looked angrier. “That's not the point I'm trying to make!” he said, trying to make a coherent gesture and failing. “Don't you know how stupid it is for me to have to deal with you ruining my experiment first, then picking a fight with me, and putting me in a situation that made me the subject of everyone's rumors here?! Don't you know that at all?”

Archer looked almost disbelieving. “That – you can't get over that?! I'm trying to be friendly towards you, and you still can't get that into your thick head?”

“Wha – _my_ head's thick?”

Jekyll looked from Archer to Griffin, and while he heard a particular voice laughing in his head, a frown appeared on his face.

“Gentlemen,” Lanyon addressed the two of them, and Griffin and Archer turned to look at him. “Do you mind?”

Archer turned towards them, looking a little guilty. “Honorable founders,” he said, trying to smile. “What are you doing here?”

“I think the question is, why are you both fighting again?” Jekyll asked, setting Eira down on the ground. “I thought you two had agreed not to disagree like this again.”

“Again?” Lanyon looked at Jekyll. “This has happened before?”

“They've been getting into arguments ever since Mr. Archer began lodging here,” Jekyll told him. “But it's nothing we can't handle, I'm sure.”

Griffin looked from Jekyll and Lanyon, then to Eira, and then to Archer.

“I can't handle this,” he said, gesturing at Archer.

“What the hell is your problem?” Archer put his hands on his hips, looking back to Griffin. “Can't I have a moment without being blamed for whatever you got yourself into?”

“Gentlemen, please,” Jekyll tried to step forward. “I'm sure we can resolve this in a calm, orderly manner.”

Archer looked to Jekyll. “Dr. Jekyll, with all due respect, there's barely any calm and orderly when it comes to Griffin,” he said. “I can do this.”

“That's fair,” Lanyon said, and Jekyll looked at him worriedly. “Robert, I have to intervene,” he said.

“Let's see how this goes first,” Lanyon said. “Honestly, I don't know what to do about these Lodgers, but let's see if they can manage this like grown-ups.”

Jekyll wanted to open his mouth and protest, but if Lanyon had said it, then there wasn't much else he could do. He stood back, and watched with a worried look on his face.

“Give me a good reason why you aren't to blame for all this,” Griffin returned to Archer, crossing his arms. “Convince me.”

“I...” Archer tried to have something come to mind, but then waved the hand he wasn't using to hold his papers. “We shouldn't even be fighting in front of these two,” he said, gesturing to Jekyll and Lanyon, “in fact, we shouldn't even be fighting at all. All I want to do is be friends with you. And I'm really, really trying to understand you.”

Griffin's frown grew deeper. “Try harder.”

Archer was almost stunned.

“...Fine,” he began. “So maybe I have made mistakes in the past. So maybe I've hurt you in whatever way I'm not even aware of. And maybe I'm making the situation worse by contributing to your causing a scene in front of the two good doctors and our fellow Lodgers.”

He extended his arm, and Jekyll looked around to see the Lodgers indeed staring right at Archer and Griffin. Lavender was the closest to the scene, standing at the top of the stairs, seemingly ready to come in at any moment. Jekyll was pretty sure he heard _Well, wouldn't you look at that, what a show,_ and he subsequently tried to tune it out.

“So, Griffin, just tell me what I need to do so we can be friends at last,” Archer finished. “Please, I'm practically begging you at this point.”

Jekyll then looked at Griffin. Griffin was keeping his eyes fixed on the stairs, where Eira was sitting at his feet. His mouth was a thin line, but his eyes seemed to be a little...soft? That was how Jekyll knew a writer of romances would describe it, anyway.

After a long silence, Griffin bent down and picked up Eira, keeping his eyes on her as he lifted her up.

“...I don't think you've realized it, Archer,” Griffin said in a quiet but harsh voice. “You and I could never be friends.”

He turned around, and walked up the stairs, pointedly dodging Lavender at the top of the stairs and walking to the left hallway on the second floor. The Lodgers who had been watching came back to life, animatedly talking among themselves and walking along the hallways as well, the topic of their conversations possibly the scene they had just witnessed.

Jekyll turned his eyes back onto Archer, for a little while, and saw that his head was bowed.

“Come on, Henry,” Lanyon said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Jekyll spared one more glance at Archer before agreeing to move on.

 

* * *

 

Archer kept his eyes down, not knowing what to do or what to say. He shut his mouth tight, and gripped the papers in his arm closer to his chest.

“ _You and I could never be friends.”_

The words echoed in his head, overtaking everything else.

Why was it the only thing in his mind?

Why did it hurt so much?

He heard footsteps coming behind him, and he looked behind him to see Virginia and Flowers coming towards him.

“...I'm sorry, Archer,” Flowers said, coming closer.

Archer shook his head, in spite of himself. “No, don't be,” he said.

Virginia looked him over. “Don't mind him,” they said. “In time you'll forget all about this.”

“Yeah, I probably will, heh.” Archer forced a laugh.

Virginia and Flowers looked at each other, and Archer could read that they were still a bit concerned (at least as concerned as Virginia Ito could be).

“Look, I just need to be alone, alright?” Archer said gently, hoping a bit of honesty would give them the hint. “I'll be fine.”

Virginia stared at him, before they sighed. “Alright,” they said. “Let's go, Flowers.”

“Mm,” Flowers said. Virginia left, but Flowers lingered a little longer, before going on her way.

Archer then walked aimlessly down the atrium, staring at the displays and trying to make sense of what he was feeling.

Why was he hurting?

It shouldn't be hurting him so much.

If an ill-tempered man who blamed everyone but himself and done nothing but pick fights with him suddenly declared that he and Archer could never be friends, then it wouldn't hurt Archer at all. In fact, he would be relieved.

So why did it hurt, dammit?!

And then Archer realized it.

Griffin was so much more than that to him.

He remembered the man's tears, and his desire to see the man smile, and it was confirmed in his mind that Griffin was so much more than that to him.

“ _You and I could never be friends.”_

But now he would never be allowed near him again.

And thinking about it some more only made something clamp around his heart tighter.

Archer looked at himself in the glass of the displays, but he didn't need the reflection to know that his eyes were becoming watery.

 


	16. We Could Never Be Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Griffin and Archer learn the truth about their situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I would insert a little happiness in this chapter to make up for all the angst that I've been writing. It is the last chapter, so it's only fair.
> 
> Yes, it's the last chapter! It's been a real ton of fun to work on this fanfic, and I hope everyone's had just as much fun reading this!
> 
> I've got yet another fanfic in the works - but this time it's about Lavender and Flowers. Keep a look out for it, and happy reading!

Inside her shared lab, Lavender pored over various documents detailing sightings and excavations. She looked them over, took down various notes and made a few observations of her own. The room seemed to be filled with the various scratches and scribbles from her pen as she worked on.

Soon, day turned to night, and someone came into the lab. Lavender didn't look up – she guessed that it was Cantilupe, back from one of her nightly trips out. So Lavender simply allowed herself one yawn, and went back to work.

An hour must have passed after the new arrival, and Lavender felt like she needed a bit of food before she went on. So she put down her pen, and stretched, before turning to her companion.

“Mrs. Cantilupe, good news, I made amazing progress today–” she began, but then stopped.

The person who had joined her, who was now asleep on a table with notes spread out on it, was not Cantilupe.

Lavender walked over to Griffin, trying to guess what he was doing here. He did sometimes go into other people's labs, but he didn't normally stay as long as an hour, much less nod off.

Was he waiting for her? But he was avoiding her earlier, not to mention his reclusive behavior these past few days. She did have a hunch as to why he was here, then, but there was only one way to make sure. So she reached out and shook his shoulder.

Griffin woke up almost instantly, and looked up at her, rubbing his eyes. He didn't look annoyed that she had caught him – but he did look a little guilty. Lavender's hunch grew.

“What're you doing here?” she asked.

Griffin pointed at the door. “The door was open,” he said.

“You'd walk past an open door if the person inside didn't concern you,” Lavender told him. “What's the real reason?”

“It's none of your business,” Griffin said, almost automatically. He looked away, but Lavender continued to stare at him.

“You and I both know that's not true.” She shifted her position so that she stood closer to him. “I can see you came to me for help, so tell me what I need to do.”

Griffin looked down.

“This is foolish, why'm I even doing this,” he said, licking the roof of his mouth. “I should just go.”

“No, Griffin,” Lavender said. “You came here, just let me listen to you.”

He shook his head. “Stupid.”

“Not stupid.” Lavender crossed her arms. “Come on.”

He looked up at her – the rest of his face showed that he was irritated, but his eyes were sad.

“You don't have to do anything,” he said, after three seconds had passed. “I...I just...don't want to be alone.”

Lavender thought she shouldn't have been surprised; she knew he really didn't want to be alone, even if after he said mean things to his colleagues here at the Society. But then again, this was a rare thing: for Griffin to seemingly regret something, especially after he argued with someone, and to admit he needed help.

The man's head and eyes were lowered, though. Maybe it was because he was expecting her to discourage him. Maybe he thought she would chide him for coming to her now when he avoided her earlier. Or about declaring that he was lonely when he had initiated the fight. Maybe she would say something about him refusing her when she had tried to console him days ago.

Well, he had perfectly good reasons to fear what she would say to him.

But whatever he was expecting her to do, her putting her hand on a shoulder in a sympathetic gesture wasn't it.

“Alright,” Lavender said softly. “You won't be alone.”

Griffin looked up at her, finally. She came even closer, and took one of his hands in her other one, squeezing it just a little. He stiffened at the touch, but he didn't seem to altogether reject it.

“...Do you want to talk about it?” she tried.

He stared at her – she could see that he was trying to be annoyed at her question, but he couldn't be.

“Griffin, you can trust me,” she went on. “I won't judge you.”

He swallowed. “I can't say,” he said, but his eyes became watery.

She came even closer to him, and moved her hand from his shoulder to his back, beginning to rub it.

“Alright,” she said. “I'll leave it alone if you want.”

Of course, she didn't want to leave it alone, but there were more important things than knowing. He exhaled, and then tried to inhale again, but choked. Lavender watched as Griffin moved a hand up to his face, and tried to stifle a sob.

“Fuck,” he said, “I'm such an idiot.”

A tear which had been threatening to come out now rolled down Griffin's cheek, and he wiped it away. But then more tears fell, and Lavender softened as he finally broke down in front of her.

All this time she had been attempting to prove that he was a human being just like the rest of them, but she had no idea she would witness it like this.

As he cried, she held him close to her chest, and he didn't resist anymore.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Griffin tried to set his mind back to work. The night he had spent with Lavender by his side was just a moment of weakness – he didn't know what to do that day after the fight.

Why had he said that?

He and Archer could never be friends?

Sure, Griffin figured he was just protecting himself. If he wanted to be friends with Archer, they would grow close, and he was just setting himself up for heartbreak. Archer had said it himself weeks before – who would fall for someone like him? They would remain friends, or worse – it would come out that he liked Archer in ways that were not friend-like, and Archer would want nothing to do with him.

So Archer probably wanted nothing to do with him now. It was fine, it saved him what could be a long period of agony over wishing the man could be his. And he didn't even know how he wanted Archer to be his – for a night? For a short time? For a lifetime? – so it was best to cut this weed before he knew it would be at a stage where it was overgrown.

What if it wasn't a weed, though?

No, no. It could only be something that could sink its roots in his heart and suck the life out of him. That was a vivid analogy, sure, but it was the only one that seemed to make sense. Plus, Archer would probably laugh at the analogy. He would probably laugh at what it meant, too.

He didn't want to get too close to Archer. That would only end in disaster.

He had to stay away – and soon he would forget all about it.

Just one night of letting it all out, and then back to bottling it up.

Griffin mixed a few chemicals around in the biology lab, before putting the formula in a small syringe. He looked it over, before turning to the lab rats in their cages. Eira was sitting by, still watching the rats, her tail twitching with curiosity.

“Well, you wouldn't like this,” Griffin said to the various mice, holding up the syringe. “Don't worry, it's just a small dose.”

He opened the hatch to the cage, and placed his hand inside, before picking up one of the rats. It skittered about in his hand, as if it knew what was to come. He closed the hatch so that none of the other rats could scamper out, and pointed the syringe at the rat, before closing his fingers firmly around it.

Eira meowed, but Griffin didn't spare her a glance. She continued to meow until he was finished with the mouse, and then he placed the mouse in a solitary cage.

“There you go,” he said, closing the hatch and then watching it scurry around the cage. “Won't be too much trouble, I hope.”

Eira had jumped off the table when he wasn't looking, and when he finally looked up, the cat was already halfway out the door. Griffin shot up, and then began to chase after her as she began running away.

“For God's sakes, Eira!” he said. “Why do you keep running out on me?"

Eira paused in the hallwayto look at him. Griffin slowly came towards her as she nonchalantly licked her paw, and just as he was close enough to jump and grab her, she jumped away again.

Griffin looked up to see her running down the hall, her tail in the air, almost triumphantly.

“Bugger,” he sighed, before moving down the hall.

 

* * *

 

Archer had finished up with the plans to his machine, and was now beginning to calculate the cost of the materials needed. He added up the numbers on a piece of scratch paper, and then whistled at the result. This project was going to cost Jekyll – but that was alright, he hoped. He sighed, and wrote down the cost on his machine plans, already thinking about how he was going to break this to the esteemed founder.

After he did this, he tapped his pencil to his chin. He was feeling a lot better today, now that his machine was starting to look like it could come to life. Bird was out getting a few exotic plants, so he probably wouldn't have company for a good chunk of the day, but he could meet up with a few of the other Lodgers in the common room, and talk a little. He just hoped they still weren't talking about him and Griffin.

Ugh, why was he still thinking about that man? He didn't need to drive himself crazy over someone who didn't want to be friends with him. He needn't think about someone who would be angry at him, no matter what he did to try and be friends with him, to make him feel better, to make him smile.

He still wanted to see Griffin smile.

If Griffin needed help but didn't want to get it, though, that wasn't his problem anymore. He had tried to help the best he could, and still Griffin wouldn't take it. He should best leave the other man alone.

It was pretty pathetic that Archer still cared for him and wished he could kiss him, though.

He frowned deeply, looking back to the plans he had for his machine. It would take a miracle for Griffin to kiss him – and the problem was, would Griffin even like kissing him? The man would probably laugh at him, maybe even ridicule him, call him stupid and other things like that. Archer inhaled, and then exhaled. He had to let go of this hopeless dream.

The door was open behind Archer, and he suddenly felt something come inside. He turned around on his chair to see a white cat come into his and Bird's lab, as if it owned the room. Archer turned fully around as he realized the cat was coming towards him.

“What's a pretty little cat like you doing here?” he asked, extending his arms for the cat to come towards him, before she jumped into his lap. He laughed. “Say, aren't you...?”

He heard a scream and a crash from outside, and then someone rushed into the room, getting to the middle of the lab before he looked up and saw Archer.

It was plain as day – by some coincidence, Griffin's cat Eira had wandered into his lab and Griffin had come chasing after it.

Griffin and Archer stared at each other, stunned. Archer expected Griffin to take on his sour expression, and make a snide remark, then snatch Eira away. It was coming any second now.

But instead of that, Griffin seemed unsure of what to do. Archer felt himself begin to sweat a little – wasn't the other man going to say something? He mentally prepared himself for any rude comments Griffin could say to him.

Eira meowed, and that brought Griffin back to reality. He slowly backed away, and before Archer could warn him, Griffin tripped over a pipe on the floor belonging to the bioregulator.

Archer and Eira jumped up as the man landed among a few nonthreatening plants, overturning a few pots and getting dirt on his clothes. Griffin groaned a little in pain, and Archer walked over to him, pushing all his previous thoughts to the back of his mind.

“Are you alright?” he asked, extending a hand to help the other man up.

Griffin looked up at the hand for two seconds, before taking it, almost automatically. Archer didn't allow him any time to pull away and firmly grasped his hand, pulling him up. He was waiting for Griffin to say something harsh this time, but he seemed to be speechless. Griffin put his hands in his pockets once Archer let go of him, and instead turned his eyes to the plants he had accidentally fell upon.

“...I thought Bird got only the unusual plants,” Griffin finally said, peering at the flowering plants there – he had overturned a few red carnations.

“Those – those aren't Bird's,” Archer said. “I normally test my inventions on some of the more ordinary plants before moving on to Bird's. Besides, it's better this way – we don't accidentally sacrifice any rare specimens he might have.”

“Mm,” Griffin said, keeping his eyes on one lone carnation that had its petals ripped off from his tumble. Archer bent down and turned the pots upright, brushing off the ruined petals. Eira meowed again, and Archer could sense Griffin bending down as well to pick her up, before standing up.

“Damn it, Eira,” Griffin muttered. “You've been a bad girl, you know that?”

Eira leaned her head down on Griffin's arm, and Archer turned around. “Don't take it out on the cat, I'm sure she was just doing cat things,” he said.

“Of course, of course,” Griffin replied, a little irritably. He was still refusing to meet Archer's eyes.

Archer stood up, staring at Griffin. The man was avoiding him, maybe because he didn't like looking at him. Archer frowned sadly. He wanted him to look at him.

“Look, I know this sounds strange,” Archer began, “considering we've gotten into all sorts of fights and you've just ruined one of my plants. But I don't think we could never be friends.”

Griffin blinked, but didn't say anything rude or laugh in his face. Archer took this as a sign to continue.

“I mean...what do we have to lose if we become friends, anyway? I'm sure I wouldn't mind it if we went out for a pint every now and then, and we talked about our research. I wouldn't mind because...I think you're a good person.”

Eira looked up at Archer, as if she had understood what he said. Griffin still didn't say anything, and instead turned towards the door.

For a moment, Archer thought that his words had been wasted. Just as his heart was about to fully sink into his stomach, though, Griffin paused in front of the door, and spared him a glance.

“...You don't mean that, do you?” he asked.

“I really do,” Archer said, with all the sincerity he could muster.

Griffin stared at him.

Then, miracle of miracles!

His mouth curled into a smile.

“I'll think about it,” he told Archer, before turning back around and walking out the door.

Archer didn't know how long he had been staring at the door with his mouth open after that, but that was only because one thing was imprinted on his mind.

Griffin had smiled at him! And he would think about them being friends, too!

Archer was contented – no, beyond that. He was immensely glad.

 

* * *

 

Griffin never normally flashed a smile for his colleagues. But he had been so happy that time that he didn't know what else to do.

Archer had called him a good person! And he still wanted to be friends!

He was still smiling as he walked out into the hall, a light pink on his pale cheeks. He had thought that surely he had killed any chances he had with Archer – but he was proven wrong, and he was delighted. (He was proven wrong, and delighted about it? That was rare.)

 

* * *

 

At that moment, though, they had realized the truth about their situation.

They could never be friends.

Because they would only ever want to be something different than friends.

But by God, even the possibility of just being friends was enough for them at this point. Because what else could they do? Confess their feelings? The other would surely laugh at them.

Their feelings could never go away, however.

They could only grow and grow.

Love is indeed like a fruit, though – and their love would eventually ripen.

 


End file.
